Instead of attending themselves, most member states justice ministers sent their deputies or leading civil servants to the two-day meeting.
A two-day informal summit of EU justice and home affairs ministers has begun in Budapest – but it’s already run into significant problems.
The event, like other informal events of the Hungarian EU-presidency in recent days, has been boycotted by several member states.
Some of the politicians who did choose to attend did not want to comment on the move, while others called it a mere expression of opinion.
“I think this is a reaction towards Hungary’s external activity maybe sometimes not adjusted to the European framework,” Arnoldas Abramavičius, Lithuania’s Deputy Minister of the Interior, said, adding: “Some countries sent lower level politicians, some countries sent ministers level, I don’t say it is a boycott but kind of an opinion expressed by the member states.”
Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, Secretary of State for Citizenship in France was even less willing to comment on specifics.
“I don’t have any comments, I’m a French secretary of state, I represent my minister, Mr. Gérald Darmanin, I am just here because we are Europeans,” she said.
Following the meeting, Hungary’s Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér – who chaired the meeting – stressed that participants agreed that without cooperation EU security cannot be guaranteed – and that challenges need to be responded to faster.
“In order to make border checks run smoothly, every member state needs to have the system ready to work properly,” he said, “This will significantly improve internal security.”
Pintér added that he was confident that all his colleagues would attend the “regular” meetings of the council of ministers in Brussels and Luxembourg.
While it’s not unprecedented for a Member State to be represented at a Council meeting only at the level of state secretary, if it becomes a regular phenomenon, it will likely undermine the prestige of the Hungarian-EU Presidency.
