In the hearing, EU ministers raised questions about Hungary's academic freedom, the concentration of over 400 media outlets in the hands of a government-friendly body, and controversial judicial reforms | Photo by Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images Hungary clashes with other EU members in rule-of-law hearing Official under fire for tweeting criticism from closed-door meeting.

Hungary's government on Tuesday dismissed EU members' concerns about rule of law in the country at a stormy meeting that resulted in a formal request for clarification about a Hungarian official’s behavior and a warning that anti-Semitism is not tolerated.

In a two-hour hearing at the General Affairs Council in Brussels — the second such meeting over the state of the rule of law in Hungary — EU ministers raised questions about academic freedom, the concentration of over 400 media outlets in the hands of a government-friendly body, and controversial judicial reforms.

Hungary, along with Poland, is in the midst of so-called Article 7 proceedings, triggered when an EU institution considers the bloc's core values are under threat in a member country. The European Parliament started the proceedings against Hungary in September last year, citing concerns about the rule of law, including the independence of the judiciary and press freedom.

At the hearing, Hungary was represented by three officials, including Justice Minister Judit Varga, who has sought an end to the Article 7 procedure. "#Art7 is on for more than 15 months in the #eucouncil now; it leads us nowhere, only raises mistrust among member states," she wrote on Twitter following the meeting.

Zoltán Kovács, Hungary's secretary of state for international communications and relations, tweeted photos and comments from the closed-door hearing. He criticized questions from member countries as "ridiculous," and posted a photo of American-Hungarian businessman George Soros and Věra Jourová, the European Commission vice president for values and transparency, with a comment that "this is how the #SorosOrchestra works."

Some officials said that the hearing showed more work needs to be done on the rule of law.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's ruling Fidesz party has long accused Soros of trying to meddle in domestic politics and force the country to open its borders to migrants. Critics of the Hungarian government say Orbán's frequent use of what they deem to be Soros conspiracies constitutes an anti-Semitic trope.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn threatened to walk out of the hearing if Kovács did not stop tweeting from the meeting, two diplomats said.

"Today, we witnessed the #SorosOrchestra drag the EU’s #gac into their ideologically driven political fight," Kovács wrote following the hearing. "Charging HU with violations of the rule of law, they brought out tired issues that have already been resolved and proceeded to ride roughshod over all rules of procedure," he added.

The rotating presidency of the Council of the EU issued a rare public rebuke of the Hungarian official.

European ministers were “quite shocked” by the tweets, Finnish Europe Minister Tytti Tuppurainen, speaking on behalf of the presidency, told reporters. The minister said she expects “all my colleagues to say a firm ‘no’ to all kinds of anti-Semitism” and that the presidency has requested that the Hungarian delegation send a “written clarification of the events to the delegations of the Council.”

Tuppurainen also noted that she has been in contact with the Council legal service because the ministers’ meeting was confidential under the EU’s treaties.

Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission’s vice president for interinstitutional relations and foresight, called the language used in the tweets to describe colleagues in the room as “unacceptable.”

“We very often describe ourselves as a European family, and you definitely do not do something like that to the family members,” he said.

Some officials said that the hearing showed more work needs to be done on the rule of law.

"There's a reason we have a hearing with this country," said the third EU diplomat. "They have torn up the rule book. In Budapest and Brussels. With the Hungarian government we keep our expectations low, but somehow they still manage to disappoint. It only reinforces the need to continue the hearings," the diplomat added.

A fourth diplomat said the session was a "lesson in how not to answer questions, dodge difficult issues and obfuscate the truth."

"Zoltan Kovacs' Twitter performance was simply pathetic. If Hungary prefers public hearings, it could just ask for it. It would make things much easier," the diplomat said.

Representatives from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden all raised questions during the hearing, according to officials.

But eastern EU countries largely remained silent.

The hearing was a "waste of time," said one minister, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Political, highly general exchange of views is pointless."

This article has been updated