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[Text/Observer.com Wang Kaiwen] The rivalry between the European Union and Hungary, the rotating EU presidency, continues. Foreign media reported that Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, will organize a diplomatic summit to boycott the foreign affairs conference hosted by Hungary at the same time.

According to RT, Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó said on July 19 local time that Borrell's move was "regrettable" and "childish."

The European version of Politico (ptico.eu) reported on the 15th that Hungary plans to host a foreign affairs conference on August 28-29. This is an excellent opportunity for Hungarian Prime Minister Orban to try to shape the EU's foreign policy agenda, and it is also an opportunity for Hungarian Foreign Minister and Foreign Economic Minister Szijjártó to shine.

But multiple sources said Borrell plans to convene EU foreign ministers for a "formal" Foreign Affairs Council meeting at the same time as a foreign affairs meeting in Hungary.

"Ministers will not be able to go to Budapest if the High Representative (Borrell) organises a formal foreign affairs meeting that day," said one EU diplomat. Another diplomat said that by boycotting the Budapest meeting, other foreign ministers wanted to "make it clear that Hungary does not represent the EU."

According to reports, the boycott plan has been informally discussed among EU member states such as France and Germany. Borrell's team was reported to have originally planned to submit the plan to the permanent representatives of the 27 EU countries to the EU on July 17 local time.

Szijjártó said on the 19th that he had not yet received a letter from Borrell inviting him to attend a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and he had noticed reports that some EU foreign ministers "tried to use some tricks."

Szijjártó said this was not surprising as Borrell had overseen "the least successful period in European foreign policy" over the past five years.

“If he had sent a letter like that, I would probably have sent him a shovel for digging in the sand, because this whole ‘I’m calling all my friends together, or you’re calling all my friends together’ thing is kindergarten-like,” Szijjártó said.

He said such petty moves at a time when the EU is dealing with "much bigger problems" (referring to the Russia-Ukraine conflict) were "more regrettable than outrageous."

Szijjártó also said he was glad Borrell was leaving office, “although I must tell you… I worked with three high representatives of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy and every time one of them expired, I was sure that things couldn’t be worse, but I was always wrong.”

The European version of Politico said that the conference hosted by Hungary should have been a grand event for the country to showcase itself on the world stage. The boycott of this conference highlighted the EU countries' neglect of Orban in an attempt to undermine Orban's limelight.

Recently, Hungary, which has taken over the rotating presidency of the European Union, has frequently shown its ambition in foreign affairs. Orban has visited Ukraine, Russia, and China, and met with former US President Trump in the United States. He called this series of visits a "peace mission". However, this has caused some EU leaders to "break down" and claim that Hungary does not represent the EU and has not been authorized by the EU.

At an EU meeting held in Brussels on July 10, Hungary's permanent representative to the EU was subjected to "unprecedented" criticism from his colleagues in Brussels. Slovakia was the only country that did not speak.

On the evening of July 15 local time, Eric Mamer, chief spokesman of the European Commission, announced on the social media platform X that in view of the developments since Hungary assumed the rotating presidency of the European Council, European Commission President von der Leyen decided not to send senior European Commission officials to attend the Council meeting chaired by Hungary, and only send senior civil servants to attend the informal meeting of the Council.

In response, Hungarian Minister of EU Affairs Boka János wrote that the activities organized by the EU Council Presidency are aimed at addressing common challenges facing the EU. The European Commission, as one of the invited EU institutions, cannot pick and choose the institutions and member states it wants to cooperate with.

Boca also questioned: "Are all the decisions of the European Commission now based on political considerations?"

There are also differences within the EU on whether to boycott the conference held by Hungary. The Dutch ANP News Agency reported on July 15 that Dutch Prime Minister Schof said he hopes to evaluate whether the Netherlands will boycott the conference organized by Hungary based on the specific situation.

According to reports, Schof visited Luxembourg that day and met with Luxembourg Prime Minister Frieden, who also expressed opposition to boycotting the conference hosted by Hungary. "In a democratic country, people communicate with each other," Frieden said. "If we go to Hungary and talk clearly to Hungarians about our values, our views will be better understood."

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