Is he PM Orbán’s new ally in the EU?

The newly elected Prime Minister of Luxembourg has expressed his wishes to connect to the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and establish a refreshed relationship between their countries.

Luc Frieden took his seat four months ago at the capital of the Grand Duchy, taking over from Xavier Bettel, who has been the Prime Minister of Luxembourg for the last decade. The former Prime Minister now serves as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the coalition government.

Luc Frieden is also a member of the largest faction in the European Parliament, the center-right European People’s Party, from where he feels a realistic chance to reconcile the relationship between the EU and Hungary.

Pacifying power

The new Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Luc Frieden hopes that, through his mediation, the tension between the European Union and Hungary will start to ease up. To achieve this, Luc Frieden plans a visit to Budapest, thus breaking the ice between the two parties. This political diplomacy goes back to a long history of Luxembourg being one of the founding Member States of the European Union.

Not only this, but going back in time, the Prime Ministers of this lovely little country have held the position of President of the European Commission for three terms so far. That is quite a high number. Based on all this, it’s safe to assume that they have a rich history with diplomacy and mitigating political issues. Staying true to this diplomatic legacy, Luc Frieden hopes to bring the two parties at hand closer, by endorsing the accepting of different worldviews and trying to see the world through each other’s eyes. According to Index, in a recent interview he stated that “Hungary is more pro-European than we might think”.

Conflicting sides

The two parties, between which Luc Frieden is trying to mediate, have already had their fair share of disagreements. Viktor Orbán has expressed his stance on a few of the current issues raised in the European Union. The most important of these is Ukraine’s EU membership and the long-term budget. This was all before Luc Frieden took his seat as Prime Minister of Luxembourg. Now that Freiden entered the scene he would like to change things for a more diplomatic approach.

Coming soon?

“I need to get to know Orbán Viktor more” Luc Frieden stated in the name of diplomacy. “If someone disagrees with another’s politics, they must try to understand where it comes from,” he argues. He revealed that he has considered traveling to Hungary in the coming months to better understand the mechanisms of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s politics.

Last time a high ranking representative of the European Union came to Hungary, the reason was a bit different. When Charles Michel, President of the European Council visited, he tried talking with Orbán about the issue of Ukraine’s accession to the EU. It was later solved by the German Chancellor at the summit, when he politely asked Orbán Viktor to take a coffee a break, while they passed the proposal without him. Although, as sweet revenge, Orbán vetoed the EUR 50 million aid package to Kyiv.

An optimistic outlook

When looking at the political map of the European Union, we can confidently say that with Donald Tusk winning the recent Polish elections, Hungary has lost a significant ally on the scene. Frieden stated that the isolation of the Hungarian Prime Minister can be blamed partly on the EU. Ever since taking office, in the last three months he has negotiated with several European leaders, such as the French President or the German Chancellor.

He has also warned that Hungary needs to take out its part in doing the work in “sorting out the Brussels relations”. A significant portion of EU funds has been frozen because the Union is concerned about the decline of democracy and the erosion of the rule of law, which is a severe issue that Hungary urgently needs to work on.

To conclude, Frieden said that he feels quite optimistic about mediating. He hopes Hungary will work on the above mentioned issues and implement the new reforms, this way lightening the tension between the European Union and Hungary.

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