“The proposal according to which European Union foreign policy decisions would not require a unanimous vote in future is dangerous from Hungary’s perspective, and is totally at odds with the EU treaties”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared in Luxembourg on Monday following a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.
In an online statement, Mr. Szijjártó said the proposal, which governments belonging to the liberal mainstream and Brussels itself are attempting to force, goes against European regulations stipulating that EU political decisions can only be made following a unanimous vote. “Instead of unanimity, they want a qualified majority to also be sufficient to make such decisions. This is how they are attempting to stirp smaller countries that do not belong to the mainstream of the right and opportunity to enforce their own interests during the course of foreign policy decision-making”, he stated. “Hungary regards it as damaging and unfair for decisions not to be made unanimously, because the negative effects of decisions affect every member state of the European Union, including those whose points of view were not taken into consideration”, the Minister highlighted. “This is revenge for the fact that we circumvented a unified position on the part of the European Union in favour of the UN Global Compact for Migration”, he said. “The EU wanted everyone to vote in favour of the package in a uniform manner in the UN, but Hungary was not prepared to welcome migration, and will not be prepared to do so in future. It retains the right to take action in international organisations based on its own interests”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade declared. “Hungary is not alone in its position; several other countries are also against the ‘forcing through’ of the new proposal”, he added.
With relation to the Western Balkans, Mr. Szijjártó said it is obvious that the European Union is now lagging behind in the “competition” for the region. “The initiative has been taken over by the United States, Russia and China. One of the reasons for this is Europe’s slowness, which is at odds with both its own interests and those of Hungary”, he stated. “The Serbian EU integration process must be accelerated”, he said. With relation to Belarus, the Minister declared: “It is unacceptable that Minsk has expelled the Polish and Lithuanian ambassadors”. He added, however, that it is important to keep communication channels with the country’s leadership open. According to Mr. Szijjártó, the new list of sanctions adopted at the Council meeting could be expanded to include Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. “Because of the affair involving the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, the EU is also planning to draw up a list of sanctions against Russia based on a proposal put forward by France and Germany”, Mr. Szijjártó stated.