Hungary took over the six-month presidency of the EU at the beginning of July. Since then, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has taken advantage of the position, meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and former US President and current candidate Donald Trump.
There has already been an initiative in the new EU Parliament — which had its first session on Tuesday — to remove Hungary's right to vote at meetings of the Council of the European Union for a limited period.
Yle asked Finland's MEPs whether Hungary's presidency should be suspended, to which 12 responded "yes".
"Orbán's arbitrary move to negotiate directly with Russia and China is shamelessly giving the middle finger to other member states. His credibility was immediately smashed to zero," newly-elected MEP Sebastian Tynkkynen (Finns) told Yle.
"His isolated communication is nothing but a smokescreen for his own interests," Anna-Maja Henriksson (SPP) told Yle.
However, Centre Party MEP Katri Kulmuni said that she could not say and Elsi Katainen (Cen) and Henna Virkkunen (NCP) said they believed Hungary should not be suspended from the role.
"Waste of six months"
"Hungary's behaviour shows a complete disregard for common values and rules of the game. This is a waste of six months, because Hungary's chances of getting anything done are slim," Pekka Toveri (NCP) said.
"We should urgently take up the proposal to take away Hungary's voting rights," said Li Andersson (Left).
"Hungary should be denied the presidency, the right to vote in the Council and its EU subsidies should be frozen," said Salla Aura (NCP).
In addition, Maria Ohisalo (Greens), Eero Heinäluoma (SDP), Pekka Toveri (NCP) and Elsi Katainen (Cen) said that in some areas, such as security policy, there should be a shift to qualified majority voting rather than unanimous decision-making.
This would prevent Hungary or any other member state from single-handedly blocking EU decisions.
Henna Virkkunen, Finland's commissioner candidate, was one of the few voices of dissent among the cohort of Finnish MEPs. Virkkunen added that she hopes that Hungary will act in a way that respects all member states.
"Suspending the presidency would be an extreme measure, the likes of which has never been seen before. Member States have conveyed their views to Hungary so that it can continue to represent the Council's position fairly," Virkkunen said.
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