The chief spokesman for the European Union’s executive arm, Eric Mamer, announced the move Monday evening, saying that it will send senior civil servants rather than commissioners to informal meetings of ministers held in Hungary, which holds the bloc’s rotating presidency.
He cited “recent developments marking the start of the Hungarian Presidency” as the reason for the move in a post on the X social media site. The commission will also skip the traditional visit of its commissioners to the country holding the presidency.
The move follows a decision by Sweden, Finland, Poland and three Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to skip the informal meetings during Hungary’s presidency, which lasts through the end of the year.
Orban blindsided western allies working to present a united front on Ukraine when he traveled to Moscow earlier this month to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, and then to Beijing to see President Xi Jinping.
The move by the commission doesn’t apply to a planned informal summit of leaders in Budapest in November, or the regular meetings of ministers in Brussels and Luxembourg during the year.
PiS and Orban didn’t always see eye to eye either, but they both knew it was useful to have someone back them up regardless, because they don’t want to be on the receiving end of another punishing vote later.