Luxembourg's foreign minister has said that Hungary should be temporarily or even permanently expelled from the European Union over its approach to refugees and other issues.
Jean Asselborn's comments in Tuesday's edition of German daily Die Welt came days before 27 EU leaders meet in Bratislava, Slovakia to discuss the bloc's future without the UK.
He said the EU cannot tolerate fundamental values being violated.
“Anyone who, like Hungary, builds fences against refugees from war or who violates press freedom and judicial independence should be excluded temporarily, or if necessary forever, from the EU,” Mr Asselborn was quoted as saying.
He argued it is the only way to “preserve the cohesion and values of the European Union”.
Mr Asselborn said that Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban is “protected by at least one other country”, which he did not identify, and that it would be “helpful” for EU rules to be amended so that suspending a member country’s membership no longer requires a unanimous vote.
Referendum on migrants
Hungary was among the loudest critics of EU plans to redistribute asylum-seekers in the bloc among its members.
Last year, it erected razor-wire fences on its borders with Serbia and Croatia to stem the flow.
Hungary is holding a government-sponsored referendum October 2nd seeking support for rejecting any future EU plan to resettle migrants among member states.
Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said Mr Asselborn was “a frivolous figure”.
“He wants to exclude Hungary from the EU but he has long excluded himself from among the politicians who can be taken seriously,” Mr Szijjarto said in a statement, accusing Mr Asselborn of “working tirelessly to demolish European security and culture”.
Mr Szijjarto said the referendum would give Hungarians the opportunity to voice their opinion about “illegal immigrants, Brussels’ quota package and the Jean Asselborn-type figures”.
German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Tuesday he did not share the view expressed by his Luxembourg counterpart.
"This is not an agreed position in Europe, " Mr Steinmeier said at a news conference in Riga. "I can understand, looking at Hungary, that some in Europe are getting impatient... however, it is not my personal approach to show a European member state the door", he added.
Agencies