Speaking during a briefing in Brussels, Enikő Győri said any changes to the Lisbon Treaty, which France and Germany want to alter to create a permanent mechanism for handling financial crises, would have to be narrowly defined.
"The scope of treaty change should be very limited," she said. "Nobody is interested in opening a Pandora's Box."
EU leaders hold a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday at which treaty change is expected to top the agenda. There are deep divisions among the EU's 27 member states over the issue.
It took more than eight years to negotiate and ratify the Lisbon Treaty, which came into force last December, and most member states are reluctant to reopen it so soon.
"Most member states are reluctant to make changes," Győri said, adding that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy would have to work hard to convince others of the need to join them in the initiative.
"Member states want to understand why this decision is needed," she said.
Hungary will hold the EU presidency for six months from 1 January 2011, succeeding Belgium. Belgium hopes that a consensus will emerge from this week's summit giving Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, a mandate to explore how changes to the treaty can be agreed and implemented.
If it is agreed to make changes in the treaty, under EU rules an intergovernmental conference would be held.
Győri said that if this happened during Hungary's EU presidency, the conference would be presided over by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, not by Van Rompuy, a stand that could cause division among EU members.
"It will be Prime Minister Orbán, not Herman Van Rompuy, who would preside," she said. "If we have to do it, we'll do it."
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
