EU ministers take a very public swipe at Hungary over a lack of respect for the bloc's values

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Senior government ministers from Ireland, Luxembourg and Belgium took a very public swipe at Hungary on Tuesday, raising questions about whether Prime Minister Vitkor Orbán’s stridently nationalist cabinet respects European Union values and standards. “I will ask also my colleague if tomorrow he plans a trip to Moscow, because this seems to be a habit for Hungarian politicians,” Luxembourg Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel said at a meeting in Budapest. Bettel, his Belgian counterpart Hadja Lahbib and Irish European Affairs Minister Jennifer Carroll McNeill said that they had held joint meetings with members of the Hungarian media, civil society and LGBTQ+ representatives ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, which Bóka chaired. Last week, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also used his convening powers to shift a gathering of the bloc’s foreign ministers from Budapest to Brussels.