News - FT: EU calls Orban's trip to Russia a violation of EU laws

The European Legal Service has said that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's visit to Russia on July 5 contradicted the EU treaties. This was reported by the Financial Times (FT) newspaper with reference to sources.According to them, the bloc's legal service informed member states on Wednesday that "Orban's actions violated the bloc's treaties, which prohibit any measures that could jeopardize the achievement of EU goals." The issue was, among other things, a violation of a provision of the law that obliges all community countries to conduct foreign policy activities "unconditionally in a spirit of loyalty and mutual solidarity.""[Orban's] trip to Moscow was a political mistake," European Council chief Charles Michel told the FT. "In 10 years, I have never seen such a harsh reaction from 26 other countries to [one country's] actions." "This is a problem - this way of working is unacceptable," Michel noted.He said he had met Orban at the NATO summit in Washington and was talking to other EU leaders to decide how to proceed. "We must not fall into the trap of trying to split the union," Michel said.