Euractiv.com with Reuters Est. 2min 11-06-2024 Content-Type: News Service News Service Produced externally by an organization we trust to adhere to journalistic standards. File photo. (L-R) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Czech President Petr Pavel, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Estonian President Alar Karis, Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Hungarian President Katalin Novak, Latvian President Egils Levits and Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Iotova pose for media during the summit of the Bucharest Nine, at the Bratislava Castle in Bratislava, Slovakia, 6 June 2023. [EPA-EFE/Marcin Obara] Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>> Languages: DeutschPrint Email Facebook X LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Hungary’s President Tamas Sulyok will not attend the summit of the Bucharest Nine, a group of European countries on the eastern edge of NATO in Riga on Tuesday (11 June), Latvian president’s office said. The summit will not end with a joint declaration of the nine countries, the office added, for the first time since the format was established in 2015. ‘Bucharest Nine’ leaders assured eastern flank is key for NATO US President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assured the leaders of the Bucharest Nine countries in Warsaw on Wednesday that reinforcing NATO’s Eastern flank is among the alliance’s priorities. Biden and Stoltenberg were invited as guests to the … Instead, a statement will be issued in the name of the presidents of Latvia, Romania and Poland, who jointly host the Riga gathering, a spokesperson for Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics told Reuters on Monday. Hungary and the other central European nations have been at odds over Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s continued cultivation of close ties to Russia and refusal to give arms to Ukraine. “Hungary will be represented by the Ambassador to Latvia”, said the spokesperson. She referred to Sulyok’s office “for questions related to the Hungarian president’s agenda”. The Hungarian president’s office did not immediately reply to the request for comment, which was sent outside working hours. The presidents of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia are usually represented at the annual summits of the Bucharest Nine grouping. Their countries are members of both NATO and the European Union. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who will be at the Riga summit, will visit Budapest the next day “to discuss Hungary’s staying out from NATO’s Ukraine mission”, Orbán told state media earlier on Monday. Hungary signalled last week it had no plans to abandon natural gas imports from Russia and sought to deepen business ties with Moscow in non-sanctioned areas. Read more with Euractiv US steps up pressure for Gaza ceasefireThe United States stepped up pressure Monday (10 June) for a Gaza ceasefire with a call for a UN Security Council vote on a truce as it redeployed Washington's top diplomat to the region scarred by eight months of war.
