Dutch Justice Minister David van Veel traveled to Budapest on July 22 against the will of the parliamentary majority, including his own party, the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), to participate in a two—day informal meeting of the Ministers of Justice and Interior of the European Union member States, which will be held within the framework of Hungary's EU presidency. Van Veel told the Dutch news agency APN on Monday.
In an interview, the minister said that he went to a meeting in Budapest, guided by the interests of his country.
According to him, the agenda of the ministerial meeting includes a number of important topics for the Netherlands, such as strengthening international action to combat migration and crime.
"These are cross-border problems. The Netherlands needs other Member States to deal with them. On behalf of the Netherlands, I will lead the strategic discussion on these issues, which will take place tomorrow," he said.
At the same time, van Veel also stressed that, according to the position of the Dutch government, the Hungarian Prime Minister does not have a mandate from the EU to conduct a peace mission initiated by him.
"I will once again convey this critical message in Budapest," he said.
Last week, the European Commission (EC) announced that it would be represented only at the level of senior civil servants at informal meetings of the EU Council. As the reason for their decision, the EC referred to the peacekeeping mission of the Hungarian Prime Minister, including his visits to Moscow and Beijing. Several EU member states (Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Denmark) announced last week that they would only send civil servants to informal meetings in Hungary for the same reason.
However, last week, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced that he rejects a general boycott and that the Dutch government will decide on a case-by-case basis whether its ministers will attend events within the framework of Hungary's EU presidency. Schuf also stressed that, in his opinion, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made it clear that the criticized meetings within the framework of his peace mission were organized on a bilateral basis and he did not represent the EU on his trips.
The statement by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands was criticized by the two parties that make up the country's four-party coalition government — the VVD and the New Social Pact (NSC). Representatives of these two center-right parties believe that the Netherlands should follow the example of the European Commission. Several opposition parties in the Dutch parliament also criticized the cabinet's decision not to boycott Hungary's EU presidency.