German Foreign Office State Secretary Miguel Berger has condemned Hungary’s decision to block a European Union statement criticising China’s Hong Kong policy.
Posting on Twitter, Miguel Berger said he bloc’s foreign policy was being undermined and that there needs to be a serious debate on ways to manage dissent, including qualified majority voting.
Hungary blocked an EU statement in April criticising China’s new security law in Hong Kong, undermining the bloc’s efforts to confront Beijing’s curbing of freedoms in the former British colony.
Last month, Budapest refused to ratify a new EU trade and development accord with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, as well as declining to support an EU call for a ceasefire in violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
As part of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s quest to promote what he describes as traditional Christian family values, Budapest has also pushed against any use of the phrase “gender equality” in EU statements.
The European Commission on Friday declined to comment on the latest veto.
Hungary did, however, allow the bloc to sanction four Chinese officials last March over human rights abuses against the Muslim Uighurs in northwestern China.
Asked to comment on the Friday veto, the Hungarian government’s media office said EU sanctions on China were “pointless, presumptuous and harmful”.
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