2024-01-12 08:55:53
The EU must find a successor for the outgoing EU Council President Charles Michel as quickly as possible. This view was represented by the German ambassador to Austria, Vito Cecere, yesterday at a discussion evening organized by the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) in Vienna. This is important so that no “vacuum” is created.
Michel joins the EU election campaign
Michel surprised at the weekend with the announcement that he would end his second and final term in office, which runs until November, early in favor of running as the Belgian Liberals’ top candidate in the European elections at the beginning of June.
Names for a possible successor are already being discussed, the diplomat reported at the meeting in the APA press center in Vienna and named, for example, the former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte from the conservative-liberal camp and the social democrat Sanna Marin, who will hold the office of the Finnish government until the end of June had held the position of head of government.
Hungary will take over the Council Presidency in July
Hungary will hold the EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2024, but this only applies to the specialist ministerial meetings. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban takes a decidedly EU-critical stance in domestic politics and is also taking a different course than the other 26 EU member states with regard to the Russian war against Ukraine.
The Hungarian leadership has also shown demonstrative closeness to Moscow since Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
However, Budapest largely supported the EU sanctions against Russia. Most recently, however, Orban blocked an increase in the multi-year EU budget to finance additional aid for Ukraine.
“Political dilemma”
The fact that Hungary and, until the recent change of government in Warsaw, Poland are EU members that explicitly represent different positions than the majority is, to a certain extent, a novelty for the EU, analyzed Cecere. “But this change is now a reality and has something of a political dilemma.”
In Germany, it is being closely observed that there are politicians in Austria, such as FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl, who are demanding “equidistance” from the warring parties in Ukraine. If the Freedom Party is successful in the National Council election, there is a fear that “something will slip towards authority,” said the ambassador. He also referred to the rise of the right-wing AfD in parts of his home country.
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