GENEVA (AFP) – European Council President Charles Michel on Thursday warned against the notion of boycotting upcoming European gatherings under Hungary’s European Union (EU) presidency, calling it a “false good idea”.
Hungary – whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban stands out within the European Union – is to host the European Political Community (EPC) summit on November 7, in which Georgia will participate, followed by an EU leaders’ meeting on November 8.
“Boycotting the meeting in Budapest is a very bad idea,” Michel told journalists during a visit to Geneva, where he met the heads of the International Committee of the Red Cross and major United Nations agencies.
“I know that some are tempted to boycott because there is irritation in a number of capitals over statements or trips by the Hungarian prime minister; and I am trying to convince my friends who believe deeply in European unity and European integration not to be tempted by a false good idea,” he added.
Orban said on Tuesday in Tbilisi that Georgia’s Parliamentary election, the results of which have been bitterly contested by the pro-EU opposition, had been “free and democratic”.
