Viktor Orbán may temporarily head the European Council

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban may temporarily head the EU Council. Politico writes about it.

The fact is, the publication explains, that the current head of the European Council Charles Michel plans to take part in the elections to the European Parliament and because of this he will resign in July. He is going to join the Belgian liberal party Mouvement Réformateur (MR), in the ranks of which he will run for the European Parliament.

EU leaders will have to agree quickly on his successor. If they cannot agree, the presidency will pass to Orbán, as Hungary will hold the presidency of the EU Council from July 2024 to December. The EU Council presidency rotates from one EU member to another for six months.

Politico notes that this is the first time a sitting European Council president will run for the European Parliament and the first time he is leaving office early. Michel would have had to remain in office until the end of November. And while his decision is legally permissible, it puts additional pressure on European leaders as they usually have more time to reshuffle and negotiate during the big distribution of top EU posts.

After the European Parliament elections, which will be held on 6-9 June in all 27 EU countries, European leaders will meet on 17 June and then 27-28 June. It is at these meetings that they are likely to try to come to an agreement on Michel's replacement.

Earlier, European Council President Charles Michel said in an interview with Belgian media that he intends to take part in the European Parliament elections. This implies that Michel will leave the post of President of the EU Council early.

We will add that 48-year-old Michel is the former Prime Minister of Belgium and since the end of 2019 is the head of the Council of the EU.

Recall, Orban said that the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union will be "more peacekeeping" and his goal is to "occupy Brussels". Orban is an opponent of Ukraine's accession to the EU. The EU summit on 14 - 15 December decided to start negotiations with Ukraine on accession to the EU. At the same time Orban did not participate in the vote. He left the hall. At the same time, the Hungarian managed to block the provision of EU aid to Ukraine for four years in the amount of 50bn euros.