(Adnkronos) – The Polish government has excluded high-level representatives of the Hungarian government from the list of guests invited to the event that will formally begin the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union in Warsaw today, as a direct consequence of the diplomatic crisis that has opened up between the two countries. Hungary held the rotating European presidency in the second half of 2024, but there will be no formal handover to Poland.
Polish Deputy Minister for European Affairs Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka confirmed that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is not invited to the event in Warsaw. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has also sent a note to the Hungarian embassy in Warsaw, expressly confirming that the ambassador is “not welcome” either, so if he intends to be present he should send a lower-level diplomatic representative, the news agency Pap reports.
Sobkowiak-Czarnecka confirmed that it all stems from the political asylum granted by Hungary to former Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski, a member of the previous government accused of corruption and belonging to a criminal group. The Hungarian authorities justified the measure by citing alleged political persecution.
