António Costa, Portugal’s former prime minister and future president of the European Council, will meet Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest on Tuesday. This will continue a tour of EU capitals that began in Italy.
European sources told Lusa that about two months before he takes over from Charles Michel as president of the European Council, Costa will travel to countries for face-to-face meetings with EU leaders.
According to the same sources, a meeting is scheduled for Tuesday with the controversial leader of Hungary, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, during which the first European summit chaired by Costa will be held in mid-December.
At the start of Hungary’s EU presidency, Orbán travelled to Ukraine and met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia – a meeting that was widely criticised within the EU and led to assurances that it was a bilateral visit and not on behalf of the bloc.
Costa’s EU tour began in Rome at the end of July with a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was the only one of the 27 EU leaders – 25 member states voted in favour, Orban abstained – to oppose his appointment at the European summit last June, so the Portuguese leader decided to start his visit there.
In September, Costa held face-to-face meetings with the prime ministers of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, and Luxembourg, Luc Frieden. Following his meeting with Orbán on Tuesday, he will meet with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday.
Poland, hit by heavy rains that have caused flooding and deaths, follows Hungary in the EU’s rotating presidency for the first half of 2025.
At the end of the week, he will meet Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, with whom he has a close relationship.
Costa will then travel to Denmark, the country holding the rotating EU presidency in the second half of 2025, where he will visit the Nordic countries.
According to sources quoted by Lusa, the aim is to hear from all 27 EU leaders before taking office about their political priorities for the next European institutional cycle. Most of the visits will take place in October.
(Ana Matos Neves, edited by Pedro Sousa Carvalho | Lusa.pt)
Source: euractiv.com
