Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Brussels is hosting today a meeting of the foreign ministers of the member states, chaired by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaya Kallas. An official European statement on the meeting's agenda said that the most prominent topics on the agenda are:
Russian aggression against Ukraine
EU foreign ministers will discuss the Russian aggression against Ukraine, after an informal exchange of views with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sipia, via video conference.
EU-US relations
During lunch, the Council will exchange views on EU-US relations.
The situation in the Middle East
The Council will discuss the latest developments in the Middle East, including Syria.
The Foreign Affairs Council will discuss current affairs, with a focus on recent events and rapid developments in the field of security and defense.
Under this item, the ministers are expected to address developments in Moldova and Georgia. On the eve of the Foreign Affairs Council, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs hosted a dinner on Belarus.
Today, before the start of the Council meeting, EU foreign ministers held a breakfast discussion on hybrid threats.
One of the thorny issues before the ministers is the European sanctions file against Russia and the existence of news of a plan by Hungary to obstruct the issuance of a decision on this matter, according to what was reported by the magazine "Playbook", the European version of the American political magazine Politico, which said under the title "The Hungarian Sanctions Deal" that the deal is likely to avoid the threat of Hungarian sanctions: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is once again keeping Brussels on the brink of the abyss by threatening to prevent the renewal of sanctions against Russia, including freezing its financial assets in the European Union. It is a move that would jeopardize the economic pressure campaign waged by the European Union against Moscow. We should not take this lightly: Hungary's threat has drawn high-level warnings, including from Polish Prime Minister Tusk, who wrote on the X website: "If [Orban] really succeeds in preventing European sanctions at a crucial moment in the war, it will be absolutely clear that in this great game for the security and future of Europe, he is playing on Putin's team, not ours. With all the consequences that this fact entails." Hungary is “playing with fire” and “putting a bomb in transatlantic relations” if it blocks sanctions, one EU diplomat said.

The solution: According to two EU diplomats, a last-minute deal to avert a threat to Hungary is now in sight. Budapest is expected to back down in exchange for a statement addressing Hungary’s concerns about “energy security.” EU ambassadors are due to gather for an emergency meeting at 9 a.m. before today’s meeting begins, and the deal is expected to be formalized at a foreign ministers’ meeting that starts at 10 a.m. in Brussels, one diplomat said in a text message to Playbook.

Just a guess: Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys told reporters on Sunday that the scenario of Hungary blocking the renewal of sanctions today is “not the baseline scenario.” “This would leave the EU and Hungary in a weak position … and this would also limit the United States in terms of options for seeking long-term, sustainable peace in Europe.” Other options: Over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv would be willing to sign a deal to pump Azerbaijani gas to Hungary and Slovakia, provided the Kremlin does not benefit from the arrangement. “We do not intend to allow Ukraine to extend the sanctions.”
“We will not extend the transit of Russian gas,” he said before the deal with Moscow expired in January. “We will not allow them to make billions more with our blood.”
Erdogan saves the day? Turkey has also stepped into the fray, with its EU ambassador Faruk Kaymakci telling my colleague Gabriel Gavin on Sunday that Ankara is ready to help replace Ukraine as a transit country.
Behind the scenes, EU diplomats are grumbling. “They [Hungarians] love drama,” said a third EU diplomat, adding that the measures would be extended one way or another.