Brussels – Viktor Orbán’s Hungary is causing trouble again. This time, by blocking the adoption of sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. “This is clearly the problem with our decision-making process: we don’t do what the majority wants, we only do what that country wants,” said the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, at a press conference following today’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting (23 February).
Despite the presence of the High Representative for Gaza, Nikolai Mladenov, and the busy humanitarian aid schedule in the Middle East, Brussels diplomatic efforts were met with obstruction from Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó. At the heart of the dispute is not only the Union’s political position, but also the activation of targeted sanctions against individuals and legal entities responsible for serious and systematic human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank.
While on paper the European Union can impose restrictive measures against those who violate human rights, in practice, the decision-making mechanism makes the process more complex, because unanimity among Member States is required to adopt them. In this specific case, Budapest was the only country to vote against the adoption of sanctions against extremist Israeli settlers active in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, effectively blocking the will of all the other 26. According to High Representative Kallas, the episode is symptomatic of a structural problem linked to the EU Council’s decision-making process: “We saw it with the Russian sanctions, and we see it again in the debate on the Middle East.” Kallas emphasised that this critical issue has arisen several times, and that on the same day it occurred twice, both on Budapest’s initiative: once on the issue of violent settlers and once on the issue of Russia. Hungary is the same country that blocked the 20th sanctions package against Russia, and has retracted its approval of the maxi-loan to Ukraine agreed by leaders in December. For Kallas, a “tyranny of the single vote.”
The High Representative then emphasised that measures against extremists in the West Bank “have been on the table for some time”, in a context where 135 individuals and 37 entities are already subject to restrictions. The last precedent dates back to 15 luglio 2025, when the EU also targeted a group of Israeli activists guilty of blocking humanitarian convoys bound for Gaza, depriving the population of essential goods such as food, water, and fuel. The regulatory framework remains the regulation adopted on 7 December 2020, which established the global sanctions regime on human rights. This instrument was created to target individuals, entities and bodies, including state and non-state actors, responsible for serious human rights violations and abuses around the world, involved in or associated with such acts, regardless of where they occur. A framework that applies to genocide; crimes against humanity; torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; slavery; extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings; enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests or detentions. Yet, despite the seriousness of the documented violations, the institutional architecture in Brussels remains vulnerable to cross-vetoes, turning what should be exemplary work on a global scale into a complex bureaucratic tug-of-war between Member States.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
