STRASBOURG: The European Parliament strongly criticised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Wednesday for meeting President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, in the latest reprimand of Budapest’s self-styled Ukraine “peace mission”.

Orban has been rebuked by other European Union countries and leaders for surprise visits this month to Russia and Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, without EU backing.

Hungary took over the rotating six-month EU presidency this month, a role which puts Budapest in charge of organising EU meetings but does not authorise Orban to conduct diplomacy on behalf of the 27-country EU.

In a resolution, the European Parliament condemned Orban’s Russia visit as “a blatant violation of the EU’s Treaties and common foreign policy”.

Zelenskiy says Hungary’s Orban cannot be mediator in Ukraine war

The EU assembly “considers that this violation should be met with repercussions for Hungary”, the resolution said.

The resolution, which also included sections on the EU’s continuous support for Ukraine, was adopted by a large majority of 495 EU lawmakers, out of the 679 that voted.

“Orban met with Putin to denigrate the EU, to proclaim that he has a peace plan that nobody knows about, and to promote Russian expansionism,” said Iratxe Garcia Perez, who heads the socialist lawmaker group in the EU Parliament.

The Hungarian government - which has maintained close ties to Russia since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine – has defended Orban’s trips.

Hungary’s Viktor Orban arrives in China on Ukraine peace mission

“It’s unacceptable to stigmatise a country for advocating diplomatic solutions,” Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijarto said in a statement posted on X on Tuesday by Orban’s spokesperson.

The EU Parliament’s resolution reaffirmed the institution’s upport for Ukraine, and urged Hungary to lift its block on refunding EU member states for military aid to Ukraine through a fund called the European Peace Facility.