EU boycotts only make us stronger, Hungarian finance minister says

The boycotts of Friday’s EU finance minister meeting in Budapest have only made the country stronger, Hungary’s finance minister Mihály Varga said.

Speaking in Budapest after the meeting, Varga said the “long list of our participants” for Friday’s meeting show that “the newest sanctions incentive of Brussels has, in this case, worked in the benefit of the Hungarian presidency.”

Hungary currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, during which time Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has undertaken self-declared “peace missions” to Kyiv, Moscow, Beijing and Washington and claimed — without authorization — to be representing the European Union, sparking fierce criticism from ministers and a boycott by the European Commission.

Only six ministers of 27 attended the meeting, including Varga himself.

However, international organizations sent high-level participants, including the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, and the Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Matthias Cormann.

Varga said the participation of “financial institutions of key importance” like the IMF and OECD attendance made the meeting “a success in all aspects.” He added that “despite the idea of the boycott, all member states represented themselves.”

“We have always said that sanctions often work the other way around,” Varga said.

The IMF has received widespread criticism from EU countries over its plan to visit Moscow, with nine finance ministers saying the visit “will undoubtedly be used for propaganda purposes by the Russian regime.”

Georgieva did not take part in the post-meeting press conference. Asked about the criticisms levelled at the IMF, Varga said “some countries” raised the issue during Friday’s meeting, but that Georgieva gave a “reasonable explanation about the situation” that the Moscow visit is in line with IMF rules.

Asked about the European Commission’s plan to use the profits generated by frozen Russian assets to back a loan to Ukraine, which was presented to ambassadors today in Brussels, Varga said it was not discussed during the ministerial meeting in Budapest, but “we have a different opinion” about delivering weapons to Ukraine.  

A separate meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Budapest on Friday morning was almost cancelled due to the boycotts, with Eurogroup head Paschal Donohoe distancing himself from the Hungarian-organized meeting at a press conference.

“The Eurogroup is a different political institution,” Donohoe said. “The reason this Eurogroup meeting took place is the work of the euro area has to continue.”