Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp has held a one-to-one meeting with his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó in Brussels to discuss EU support for Ukraine.

The meeting came on the fringes of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Monday, at which the wars in Ukraine and Gaza were central.

“We discussed the crucial importance of EU and Nato support for Ukraine, as well as Hungary’s EU presidency,” Veldkamp said. “I stressed that the presidency should fulfill its role as an honest broker and work loyally with the member states.”

Hungary has been under fire from the European Commission and several other member states after president Viktor Orbán went on a solo “peace mission” to China, Moscow and the US.

“The rotating presidency does not represent the EU externally,” Veldkamp said. “Our position is clear: Russia is the aggressor. There can be no negotiation on Ukraine without Ukraine. We disapprove of PM Orbán’s recent visits, which contradict this and are therefore harmful.”

Nevertheless, he said, the Netherlands is ready to work constructively with Hungary during its presidency “to achieve positive results”.

The Netherlands’ four-party, right-wing coalition government is divided about how to deal with Orbán. The Liberal VVD and the NSC want the Dutch cabinet to sign up for the boycott announced by the European Commission, which says it will only send civil servants to informal meetings in Hungary during the country’s six-month presidency.

But Geert Wilders’ PVV and the BBB disagree, with one PVV parliamentarian describing the VVD’s position as “madness”. Wilders is a long-time ally of Orbán and PVV MEPs have joined his “patriots” grouping within the European parliament.

Prime minister Dick Schoof has said the Netherlands will decide on a meeting-by-meeting basis who to send to Hungary and confirmed last week that justice minister David van Weel will attend Monday’s informal meeting of justice and home affairs ministers.  

Van Weel will speak to Hungarian NGOs and academics striving to support the rule of law in Hungary,” a justice ministry spokesman said. He also plans to talk to colleagues about organised crime.