BUDAPEST, August 12. /TASS/. The European Union must not give orders to the presidents of Russia and the US or set terms for their meeting slated for August 15 in Alaska, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said, explaining why he did not sign the joint statement by EU leaders on the upcoming talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
"Just four days ahead of the historic summit between President Trump and President Putin, the European Council sought to issue a statement in the name of all EU heads of state and government. Before the liberal-mainstream chorus begins its newest rendition of their favorite ‘Putin’s puppet’ tune, I decided to share why I could NOT support the statement on behalf of Hungary," the head of the Hungarian government wrote on the X social network.
First of all, Orban noted that "the statement attempts to set conditions for a meeting to which leaders of the EU were not invited." Secondly, "the fact that the EU was left on the sidelines is sad enough as it is. The only thing that could make things worse is if we started providing instructions from the bench."
"The only sensible action for EU leaders is to initiate an EU-Russia summit, based on the example of the US-Russia meeting," the Hungarian prime minister concluded.
