EU chief slams Hungary PM Orban's appeasement mission to Moscow

(ANSA-AFP) - STRASBOURG, 18 LUG - EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday savaged a rogue diplomatic trip made by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Moscow to discuss ways for ending the war in Ukraine as an "appeasement mission". "This so-called peace mission was nothing but an appeasement mission -- this was a plain appeasement mission," she told the European Parliament in a sharp rebuke for Orban, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency. "Russia is banking on Europe and the West going soft, and some in Europe are playing along," said von der Leyen, who was courting votes in the parliament for a second five-year term.

 EU lawmakers on Thursday handed Ursula von der Leyen another five-year term as European Commission president during their first parliamentary session since June elections.
Von der Leyen won with the support of 401 MEPs in the 720-seat chamber -- comfortably over the 361-vote majority she needed to remain head of the EU's executive body. There were 284 who voted against in the secret ballot.  (ANSA-AFP).