| Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor OrbĂĄn will face the ire of his opponents in the European Parliament â and the adulation of his friends â if, as expected, he takes up a forthcoming invitation to address the EU legislature in Strasbourg next week. OrbĂĄn infuriates the left and energises the populist right in equal measure, both of whom are well represented in the Parliament and will have their own opportunities to speak. The bombastic prime minister knows what he is walking into and can be expected to come prepared. Leaders of the Parliamentâs political groups are due to approve sending a customary invitation to the Hungarian government this Wednesday (11 September). The invitation is a formality extended to all governments during their six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union, representing the national governments of the EUâs 27 member states. Hungary is midway through its turn at the helm, which runs until the end of the year. Meanwhile, OrbĂĄnâs address is already pencilled into the parliamentary calendar for the morning of Wednesday, 18 September. In theory, the parliamentary leaders do not have to send the invitation â it is a convention, not the law. After all, EU foreign ministers made the unusual decision to move an informal meeting in August from Budapest to Brussels as a rebuke to OrbĂĄn's diplomatic overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, addressing the Parliament during the Council presidency is such a well-established convention that OrbĂĄnâs opponents are wary of playing politics with it, lest it set a precedent that could be used against them in the future. Similarly, the Hungarian government is not obliged to send the prime minister. Or, to put it another way, OrbĂĄn does not have to turn up unless he wants to. | 