Has Germany had enough of the Hungarian government?

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas spoke at an ambassadorial conference on Monday about the need to eliminate the possibility of vetoing member states within the European Union. According to others, this clearly referred to Hungary and the Hungarian government.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas spoke about the EU situation in his opening speech at the 19th conference of the ministry he headed on Monday. The German politician did not say so, but he clearly referred to Hungary and the Orbán government, writes 24.hu.

The alliance of liberal democracies needs to be strengthened.

Heiko Maas said it should be noticed when others question this type of governance, for example, by stylising mask or vaccine supplies as competition between Western and Eastern regimes. “Hungary has voted repeatedly alone or with a minority against the general EU position. The Hungarian government has vetoed a statement condemning China for violating Hong Kong liberties. Most recently, Hungary blocked the EU’s position on the Gaza-Israel conflict and opposed EU sanctions against Chinese officials in the Xinjiang case.

Within the European Union, Hungary faced other countries when it decided to condemn Russia and did not join the resolution on the imprisonment of protesters alongside Russian politician Alexei Navalny. Not only within the EU but also at one of the V4 meetings, Hungary defended Russia. According to the Western powers, these are clear signs that the Orbán government wants to work with the Eastern powers rather than with the Union. Heiko Maas said

it would be important to abolish the institution of veto.

The German foreign minister puts it this way, “the community cannot allow those who paralyse our foreign policy to take us hostage.” Under the current rules, one veto vote from the 27 EU Member States is enough to frustrate a common foreign policy position, writes index.hu.

Source: index.hu, 24.hu