Poland’s nationalist President Karol Nawrocki has scrapped a planned meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán after the latter visited Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
Nawrocki had been scheduled to meet with Orbán on 4 December, following a summit with Hungary, Slovakia, and Czechia on 3 December.
“In connection with the visit to Moscow carried out by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and its context, President K. Nawrocki decided to limit the program of his visit to Hungary exclusively to the summit of the presidents of the Visegrád Group in Ostrzyhom,” wrote Nawrocki’s advisor, Marcin Przydacz, on social media on Sunday.
Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party has long cultivated ties with Poland’s opposition, which backs the less powerful president against the pro-EU, technocratic Prime Minister Donald Tusk. However, his close relationship to Moscow appears to have created friction.
The Hungarian leader has been pushing for peace talks to end the war in Ukraine to be held in Hungary.
“President Karol Nawrocki has consistently advocated seeking realistic ways to end the war,” Przydacz’s said in his statement.
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Orbán’s close ties with Moscow have also put him at odds with other members of the European Union and NATO.
Before the Moscow visit, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Orbán is acting “without a European mandate” and scoffed at the Hungarian peace project.
Hungarian officials pushed back against the criticism.
“We Hungarians do not need permission or a mandate from Brussels, Berlin or anywhere else for any foreign negotiation,” wrote Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on social media on Saturday.
Polish Prime Minister Tusk also criticised Orbán directly and indirectly over the weekend. However, he appeared to distance himself from Nawrocki.
“According to the Constitution, the government conducts foreign policy,” Tusk wrote on social media on Sunday. “The President is obliged to cooperate with the government and to represent Poland with dignity.”
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