French President Emmanuel Macron, right, talks to Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, second left, next to European Council President Charles Michel, left, and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban as they prepare for a group photo during an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

BRUSSELS (AP) — Prime Minister Viktor Orban is again highlighting how dysfunctional the European Union's family of 27 nations can be, with the Hungarian leader defiantly going against the flow in reacting to Georgia’s contested election.

Orban, Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest partner within the EU and Europe's longest-serving leader, currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, which often is the bloc's global bullhorn and which Orban has used in ways that highlight internal divisions.

The Hungarian leader has played the spoiler on showing unity in confronting Russia over its war in Ukraine. Now, another point of contention has emerged in the disputed election outcome in Georgia, where the opposition alleges vote-rigging by the populist ruling party.

Orban’s office said he was taking a surprise trip Monday to the Georgian capital to meet with his allies there.

EU institutions, meanwhile, had spent much of the weekend carefully weighing a diplomatic statement that would show their displeasure with the claimed win by the Georgian Dream party, which they feel is increasingly leaning toward Moscow and away from Brussels even as many in the ex-Soviet nation favor embarking on a path toward joining the EU.

But Orban, increasingly seen as Putin's voice in the bloc, preempted EU statements even before all votes were counted and congratulated “the Georgian Dream party on their overwhelming victory,” adding that Georgians “know what is best for their country, and made their voice heard.”

The EU statement that came a full day later called on Georgian authorities "to fulfil their duty to swiftly, transparently and independently investigate” alleged vote rigging.

On top of vote rigging allegations, “we have witnessed unprecedented levels of disinformation and harsh anti-EU rhetoric,” EU spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said. "Some of the narratives used during this campaign have been clear and directly inspired from Russian propaganda.”

Anti-EU rhetoric nowadays not only comes from Moscow or Georgia but from Budapest too in a challenge from within not seen since the most heated Brexit days of Britain campaigning to leave the bloc almost a decade ago.

Orban’s antagonism reached a new milestone last week, when he told a crowd of supporters that the EU seeks to topple his government and “hang a Brussels puppet government around the country’s neck.” Days later, he accused the EU of having installed the center-right government in Poland to rid the country of its previous right-wing populist leadership. He gave no evidence to support either claim.

Orban's trip to Georgia is not the first time he's drawn the ire of other EU leaders by taking a rogue journey.

In July, only days after Hungary took over the bloc’s rotating presidency, he traveled to Moscow for meetings with Putin under the auspices of a self-styled “peace mission,” a visit the Russian leader viewed as taking place on behalf of the EU presidency.

But the bloc’s leaders were livid and heavily criticized Orban for meeting with Putin without informing them, and underlined that Orban was not appearing on their behalf.

Since July, Orban has increasingly clashed with the rest of the bloc, especially over the war in Ukraine. He has routinely blocked, delayed or watered down efforts to extend assistance to Kyiv and sanction Russia, leading to criticisms that he was damaging the EU and serving Moscow's interests.

In another signal of his political priorities, Orban set off on his Monday trip to Tbilisi while he was scheduled to give a keynote address at a summit of EU member state parliamentary committees in Budapest, an engagement he canceled at the last minute to visit Georgia’s Eurosceptic leadership.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who backs the opposition protests against the election results, saw the wider pattern.

“If he undermines EU unity, it’s not only through Georgia. So that’s the European issue,” Zourabichvili said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Seeing Orban coming and visiting the prime minister here is just a political play.”

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Justin Spike reported from Budapest. Emma Burrows contributed from Tbilisi, Georgia

News from © The Associated Press, 2024