President of the European Council, Charles Michel has abandoned plans to run in the European parliamentary elections after Hungarian leader Viktor Orban sparked fears that he could lead Brussels.

Michel will now remain in his job, three weeks after announcing he would run in the elections.

EU rules ensure the member state holding the rotating presidency can stand in as President of the European Council in the absence of a permanent leader.

Orban was in the running to become President of the European Council.

It comes six day before a summit of EU leaders where the future of the EU's financial support to Ukraine will be decided.

Brussels faces pressure to find a compromise deal that will allow Orbán to drop his veto against using the shared budget.