BRUSSELS, Belgium: Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban drew a fresh rebuke from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Saturday after the nationalist leader attended a meeting of the Organization of Turkic States in Azerbaijan.
Brussels, EU allies, the United States and Kyiv had already slammed Orban, whose country took over the European Union’s rotating presidency this month, for holding talks on the Ukraine war with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday.
EU officials blasted the surprise trip, saying it threatened to undermine the 27-member bloc’s stance on the conflict and stressed that he was not representing Brussels.
Orban’s participation at an informal OTS summit in Azerbaijan on Saturday was the latest event where he represented Hungary alone and not the European Union, Borrell said.
“Hungary has not received any mandate from the EU Council to advance the relations with the Organization of Turkic States,” Borrell said in a statement.
Orban has already sparred with Brussels over his controversial travels.
“Are we allowed to have dinner, or do we need a #EUCO mandate for that too?” his political director wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after the Moscow trip.
The EU also rejected OTS attempts to legitimize the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus by admitting it as an observer, said Borrell.
The island of Cyprus has been divided for decades between the internationally recognized, Greek-speaking Republic of Cyprus, an EU member, and the Turkish-speaking TRNC, only recognized by Ankara.
The OTS is an international organization bringing together countries with Turkic languages, founded in 2009 by Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Hungary became an observer of the group in 2018.
EU foreign policy chief issues fresh rebuke to Hungary’s Orban
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EU foreign policy chief issues fresh rebuke to Hungary’s Orban
France’s Le Pen insists party acted in ‘good faith’ at EU fraud appeal
- Le Pen said on her second day of questioning that even if her party broke the law, it was unintentional
- She also argued that the passage of time made it “extremely difficult” for her to prove her innocence
PARIS: French far-right leader Marine Le Pen told an appeals trial on Wednesday that her party acted in “good faith,” denying an effort to embezzle European Parliament funds as she fights to keep her 2027 presidential bid alive.
A French court last year barred Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate from the far-right National Rally (RN), from running for office for five years over a fake jobs scam at the European institution.
It found her, along with 24 former European Parliament lawmakers, assistants and accountants as well as the party itself, guilty of operating a “system” from 2004 to 2016 using European Parliament funds to employ party staff in France.
Le Pen — who on Tuesday rejected the idea of an organized scheme — said on her second day of questioning that even if her party broke the law, it was unintentional.
“We were acting in complete good faith,” she said in the dock on Wednesday.
“We can undoubtedly be criticized,” the 57-year-old said, shifting instead the blame to the legislature’s alleged lack of information and oversight.
“The European Parliament’s administration was much more lenient than it is today,” she said.
Le Pen also argued that the passage of time made it “extremely difficult” for her to prove her innocence.
“I don’t know how to prove to you what I can’t prove to you, what I have to prove to you,” she told the court.
Eleven others and the party are also appealing in a trial to last until mid-February, with a decision expected this summer.
- Rules were ‘clear’ -
Le Pen was also handed a four-year prison sentence, with two years suspended, and fined 100,000 euros ($116,000) in the initial trial.
She now again risks the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a one-million-euro ($1.16 million) fine if the appeal fails.
Le Pen is hoping to be acquitted — or at least for a shorter election ban and no time under house arrest.
On Tuesday, Le Pen pushed back against the argument that there was an organized operation to funnel EU funds to the far-right party.
“The term ‘system’ bothers me because it gives the impression of manipulation,” she said.
EU Parliament official Didier Klethi last week said the legislature’s rules were “clear.”
EU lawmakers could employ assistants, who were allowed to engage in political activism, but this was forbidden “during working hours,” he said.
If the court upholds the first ruling, Le Pen will be prevented from running in the 2027 election, widely seen as her best chance to win the country’s top job.
She made it to the second round in the 2017 and 2022 presidential polls, before losing to Emmanuel Macron. But he cannot run this time after two consecutive terms in office.
