German Chancellor Scholz gives Hungarian PM Orban cold shoulder in Berlin

euronews (in English)

The Hungarian Prime Minister was welcomed in Berlin by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz but without much fanfare, as the relationship between the two countries appears frosty.

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00:00Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban dropped into Berlin on Friday ahead of Hungary taking

00:04over the rotating EU Council Presidency for six months. The popular leader visited Stuttgart

00:10sitting next to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday for the Germany-Hungary match,

00:14but politics were very much off the agenda. Now this is the second time that Orban has

00:18visited Scholz in Berlin without a press conference or receiving military honours,

00:23a formality that is normally granted to state visits in Berlin.

00:27Whilst the EU Council Presidency holds little power, it does decide which topics are bounced

00:32to the top of the weekly agenda meeting in Brussels and which remain at the bottom. So

00:36despite the frosty reception from Scholz, he has managed to carve out time to meet Orban,

00:42despite a day packed back with meetings and events. Next week Orban will visit Maloney in Italy,

00:48where the top EU jobs will be dished out at the end of the month. Candidates need 15 out of 27

00:54EU leaders' votes to receive job offers. Liv Stroud, in Berlin, for Euronews.

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