Commission officials to boycott Hungary's informal EU meetings over Orbán's trips
A look back at the European Commission's response to Viktor Orbán's visits to Russia and China, and a Finnish border law passed days earlier.
How did Brussels respond when Hungary's prime minister took his own diplomacy to Moscow and Beijing? On 15 July 2024, the European Commission announced that top European Union officials, including Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, would boycott informal meetings hosted by Hungary during its rotating EU Presidency.
The announcement was a reaction to what were described as rogue meetings held by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán in Russia and China, which concerned Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The boycott applied to the informal meetings Hungary was due to host, rather than to the Presidency as a whole.
Finland tightens its eastern border rules
Three days earlier, on 12 July 2024, the Parliament of Finland passed a law allowing border guards to restrict trafficked asylum seekers from crossing the Finland–Russia border.
The Finnish measure came amid Russian emigration during the war. Later estimates put the number of people who left Russia at about 900,000 by early October 2022, including economic migrants, conscientious objectors and some political refugees.
