On Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán conducted preliminary talks with President of the European Council Charles Michel, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the President of Cyprus, and the Italian, Slovenian, Estonian and Luxembourg prime ministers ahead of the next EU summit, Bertalan Havasi, the Prime Minister’s press chief informed the Hungarian news agency MTI.

The purpose of the consultation conducted as part of a video conference was to better prepare for and discuss the topics of the EU summit to be held at the end of September in Brussels.

Members of the European Council talked about the maritime dispute over Turkish-Greek territorial issues which broke out in connection with gas reserves found in the Mediterranean.

They also spoke about relations with China, with regard to the fact that EU institutions and leaders of China will conduct official talks this month; the summit can be regarded partly as “a replacement” for the EU-China summit which was cancelled earlier due to the coronavirus pandemic, the press chief highlighted.