[Salon] Members of the European Commission to boycott Hungarian meetings." (7/16/24.)


https://harici.com.tr/avrupa-komisyonu-uyeleri-macaristan-toplantilarini-boykot-edecek/

7/16/24

The European Commission asked the Commission members not to attend informal council of ministers meetings during Hungary's EU presidency in protest of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's diplomatic efforts in the Ukrainian war.

'In light of the latest developments marking the beginning of the Hungarian Presidency, the President has decided that the Commission should be represented only at the senior civil servant level at the unofficial meetings of the Council,' said European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer.

Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on July 1. Normally, official meetings held in Brussels and Luxembourg will not be affected because their organization is not affiliated with the presidency.

But Mamer said the traditional visit of the European Commission College to the country would be cancelled.

EU member states last week condemned Hungary and its prime minister for their 'peace missions', which they declared to regulate Ukraine, Russia, China and Florida, and did not explicitly state whether Budapest was organized as a national or EU presidency.

The council's legal service told EU envoys last week that Budapest's actions would constitute “potentially a violation of the bloc's agreements.”

This step also came after the decision of Sweden, Finland, Poland and three Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania not to attend informal meetings during Hungary's term presidency.

So far, EU countries have not presented concrete options beyond showing public anger over how to rein in Budapest's actions. The only response so far has been for EU member states to reduce their ministerial representation rates at some unofficial ministerial meetings over the past week.

While only seven ministers from EU countries attended the industrial policy meeting held in Budapest, the Commissioner responsible for the file did not attend the meeting.

While the plans are unofficially voiced among several EU member states, including France and Germany, EU diplomats say it may be too early to take serious steps.

EU officials warned that the union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell's 'parallel foreign foreign affairs summit' organizing step would be 'radical' and, in any case, would require the full support of EU member states.

The step is expected to be addressed by EU ambassadors on Wednesday (July 17). Reacting to the announcement, Hungary's Minister for European Affairs, János Bóka said that Budapest, which holds the rotating EU presidency, is "dependent on sincere cooperation" with the bloc's institutions and member states.

Bóka said that the European Commission cannot 'elect the institutions [and member states] it wants to cooperate with' and 'Are all the decisions of the Commission now based on political considerations?' he asked.



“If everyone wants to do everything, things don't get better, but we focus on what the country or countries and groups can do best,” a defense ministry spokesperson said on Monday regarding the delivery of fighter jets.

EUROPE

President of Georgia applies to Constitutional Court for annulment of 'foreign agency' law

Published 

1 day ago 15/07/2024Author

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili initiated a legal process at the country's Constitutional Court demanding the annulment of the 'Transparency of Foreign Influence' law.

According to the news of the Interfax agency, Giorgi Mıshiladze, the President's secretary in the parliament, at the press conference he held, "The 'Transparency of Foreign Influence' law adopted by the parliament is unconstitutional and contradicts the 78th article of the constitution. The lawsuit filed by the President objects to a series of provisions of the law that violate the guaranteed rights of citizens. The president demands the suspension and complete cancellation of this law,” he said.

Mıshiladze said the 78th of the constitution, which stated that the President aims for the Euro-Atlantic integration of Georgia's foreign policy route. He stated that he demanded the withdrawal of the law because it contradicted the article.

Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, on the other hand, reminded that Zurabishvili described the Constitutional Court's decision a few months ago that the President violated the Constitutional Court as 'shameful' regarding the President's decision to file a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court.

Papuaşvili said, “This time, President Zurabishvili is suing the Constitutional Court, which he did not recognize his decision. As it turns out, the President changed his view on the Constitutional Court and recognized the legitimacy of the court and therefore the court's decision that it violated the constitution,” he said.

Papuashvili added that after the judicial decision that the President violated the constitution, the impeachment process was initiated in parliament and that this process was not supported by the constitutional majority of deputies: “If an incumbent president does not have the constitutional and moral standards required by this mandate, he should resign.”

Before that, Germany and France decided to cut financial aid to Georgia. The USA has started to review all cooperation programs with Tbilisi.

Washington has also sanctioned as many as 30 Georgian parliamentary people who voted in favor of the 'foreign agency' law and cancelled the joint military exercise called 'Worthy Partner', which will take place in July.

EUROPE

Switzerland issuing an arrest warrant for a Russian diplomat on espionage charges

Published 

1 day ago 15/07/2024Author

It was reported that the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office issued an arrest warrant for a Russian diplomat on charges of espionage and violation of the sanctions regime.

The Swiss Info portal claimed that the unnamed diplomat has already left the country.

According to law enforcement, the person officially accredited as a diplomat has conducted intelligence activities to obtain weapons and other 'potentially dangerous materials'.

Along with him, two more people whose nationality and status were not specified were included in the case.

The State Department lifted the immunity of the diplomat in question at the request of the prosecutor's office.

According to Tages-Anzeiger, the diplomat worked at the Russian Embassy in Bern and had been under surveillance by Switzerland's intelligence agencies for some time.

The diplomat was alleged to have left the country when he was accused of violating federal laws on the imposition of sanctions and the control of the circulation of military products.

Foreign Ministry sources noted that Russian Ambassador Sergey Garmonin was not called to the ministry, but that the issue was resolved in a secret way 'through other channels'.

In addition, after the lawsuit was opened, law enforcement officers carried out searches in various cantons of the country.

Switzerland maintains a position of military neutrality and therefore prohibits the supply of weapons to Ukraine and the re-export of these weapons to other countries. But Switzerland also participated in the sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU) against Russia.

Since the start of the military intervention in Ukraine, European countries have deported a total of 600 Russian diplomats on espionage charges.

The German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution argued that the most blackmail and bribery were used for this purpose, claiming that Russian security services are now actively rebuilding the spy network by recruiting people from local.



This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail (Mailman edition) and MHonArc.