Hungarian PM Orbán’s visits to Russia, China has new Dutch coalition divided

Another topic has the new Dutch coalition divided. This time, the parties can’t agree on how to handle Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The VVD wants to boycott meetings organized by Hungary, which took over the rotating European Union presidency two weeks ago. The PVV and BBB are against a boycott. NSC wants a “joint signal to Hungary.”

Earlier this week, the European Commission decided to boycott EU meetings organized by Hungary by sending civil servants, instead of European Commissioners, to attend them. Several northern European countries have done the same. The Netherlands will decide on a case-by-case basis, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said.

VVD parliamentarian Thom van Campen has asked the Cabinet for clarification about the decision not to support the boycott. “We are, of course, curious about the response, but the VVD believes that we should support this step,” Van Campen told the Telegraaf.

According to the VVD MP, a boycott is justified after Orbán visited Putin. “If Orbán comes up with such a blatant provocation with a so-called peace mission during the first weeks of the Hungarian presidency, we have little confidence in his further steps,” Van Campen said. He added that “Orbán is already kicking everyone in the shins” and that it is good “that the European Commission draws a line.”

NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt called for “a joint signal towards Hungary,” according to the newspaper. “Visiting Putin without a strategy and agreement, while he is simply bombing a children’s hospital, means that you are playing into his hands,” Omtzigt said.

On the other side of the divide are the PVV and BBB. PVV leader Geert Wilders and Orbán have been allies for years. In April, during the Cabinet formation talks, Wilders spoke at the right-wing CPAC convention organized by Orbán in Budapest. And in June, the PVV joined the new radical right-wing alliance “Patriots for Europe” in the European Parliament, which was co-founded by Orbán. The PVV is against boycotting EU meetings organized by Hungary. “We don’t feel anything for the VVD’s madness,” MP Raymond de Roon told the Telegraaf.

“BBB is showing restraint and does not believe a boycott is necessary,” BBB MP Henk Vermeer told the newspaper. “Orbán’s actions are diplomatically clumsy, but he was not there with a European mandate. I assume he did that in a personal capacity. Every sovereign country is free to do that.”