After meeting his EU counterparts in Luxembourg on Monday, Péter Szijjártó said the move was dangerous from Hungary’s perspective and “completely goes against” the EU treaties. The proposal “being forced on the bloc by the liberal mainstream governments and Brussels itself” violates EU rules which say the union’s foreign policy decisions require unanimous consent from member states, Szijjártó said in a video message. Under the new plan, the EU could enact foreign policy decisions with a simple majority vote, the minister said. The new system would serve to deprive member states that do not belong to the “liberal mainstream” of their right to enforce their own interests when deciding on foreign policy measures, Szijjártó insisted.
Hungary believes that changing this rule would be “harmful and unfair”, the minister said, arguing that any negative effects of a foreign-policy decision would also affect member states whose positions were not taken into consideration when the decision was issued.