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Lives can only be saved through peace and a ceasefire, which is why Hungary wants to achieve an immediate ceasefire and peace talks in the war in Ukraine, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a program on Radio Kossuth. Péter Szijjártó stressed that statements made in recent weeks suggest that the war is dragging on, which, he said, “is the worst possible news we can get about the war”.
He added that Hungary, as a neighbor of Ukraine, has faced all the immediate consequences of the war in the past year or so, including more than a million refugees, skyrocketing inflation and a national energy bill that is tens of billions of forints higher. He stressed that Hungary’s position has remained unchanged since the outbreak of the war: it wants an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations.
Speaking at the EU summit on Thursday, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said that Ukraine needs more support, weapons and more tanks, jets and long-range defense systems. In reaction to that, Szijjártó said that the European Parliament’s “credibility is practically zero”, and that the recent corruption scandal have clearly shown that the body is “one of the most corrupt organizations in the world”. He added that the EP’s decisions and statements “have generally harmed Europe”, stressing that arms shipments are a prolongation of the war.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister also said in the interview that
in the transatlantic community, the rhetoric of war is “incomparably louder than the rhetoric of peace”, while outside the transatlantic world, the desire for peace is much stronger.
According to him, countries outside the transatlantic community are also facing the effects of war, with food supply problems and skyrocketing prices for raw materials and energy.
On sanctions, the Foreign Minister said that the European economy has faced “unimaginable difficulties” over the past year, that the punitive measures have not forced Russia to end the war, and that they are actually doing more damage to Europe than to Russia. The sanctions have failed in their entirety, he stated, adding that the tenth package of sanctions would only be able to “do further damage to us Europeans, just like the previous nine”.
Péter Szijjártó stressed that Hungary does not support any sanctions on nuclear energy. He emphasized that
if the Paks nuclear power plant could not operate due to the ban on nuclear fuel supply, Hungary’s energy supply would become impossible.
The Minister added that for geographical reasons, Hungary can only increase its independence from international energy markets if it produces nuclear energy, and therefore any restriction on its access to nuclear energy would jeopardize the country’s energy supply and threaten its sovereignty.
Featured photo via Facebook/Péter Szijjártó
