Hungarian President Viktor Orbán could become the President of the EU Council after the current president former Belgian prime minister Charles Michel announced his intention to run as a member of the European Parliament (MEP).
The European Conservative reported that the news has caused “panic” in Brussels saying that succession rules mean Orbán could become the provisional president as Michel will be stepping down half a year earlier than expected.
Michel will throw in the towel as EU Council President in mid July according to De Standaard.
“If I am elected, I will take the oath. I will exercise my duties as President of the European Council until I am sworn in as a Member of the European Parliament in mid-July.” he said.
“At the end of June or the beginning of July, the European Council can anticipate my departure and decide on a successor,” he said.
Journalist Tamás Orbán wrote that many in the “left-leaning” EU establishment had been “campaigning to prevent Hungary from taking on the rotating presidency for months, which would not only be unprecedented but an arguably illegal and completely undemocratic move as well.
“Now, the prospect of the conservative, sovereigntist Hungary simultaneously assuming both the rotating presidency and the role of the president is a pill that proves to be too hard to swallow in Brussels.” he said.
Michel’s announcement drew criticism from liberal MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld who reacted on X saying. “The Captain leaving the ship in the middle of a storm. If that is how little committed you are to the fate of the European Union, then how credible are you as a candidate?”
Former MEP Andrew Duff, who specialised in constitutional affairs, called the move “a big bad dereliction” who emphasised the Council President’s role in playing the central constitutional function in forming the new Commission in accord with the Parliament.