Sending weapons to Ukraine would prolong the war, and more people would die, said the foreign minister.Continue reading
The Foreign Minister reported in Luxembourg on Monday that the EU, in defiance of Hungary’s right to decide, has earmarked an additional 1.4 billion euros to finance arms transfers. Péter Szijjártó also informed the press that the EU Foreign Affairs Council adopted its 14th package of sanctions against Russia, including the energy sector, but the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary has been granted full exemption from the punitive measures.
Speaking at a press conference during the break of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting, Szijjártó said that, in his opinion, the 14th sanctions package is nothing but a continuation of a strategy that has failed completely. He underlined that our country had had to engage in sharp debates during the preparation in order to “defend ourselves, defend our national interests and defend the security of our energy supply.” In this context, he said it was good news that national interests and energy security had been safeguarded.
We have also achieved in this legislation that the construction of the new Paks nuclear power plant and all its processes, all phases and all elements are fully exempted from sanction measures,”
he stressed.
“This means that if European companies are involved in the investment in the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant – Germans, French, Austrians – they will not have to ask for authorization even from their own national authorities,” he pointed out. Péter Szijjártó said that all this means that the possibility of over-performance or political mischief has been eliminated from the system.
The Hungarian foreign minister also informed about the announcement that an additional 1.4 billion euros from the European Peace Facility will be used for arms transfers to Ukraine, despite Hungary’s disagreement with this.
“This 1.4 billion euros is the sum of the proceeds from the seizure or freezing of Russian assets.
Since Hungary abstained on the first vote on the use of these funds, the Council’s legal service, Brussels, bureaucrats and some member states thought that this was a sufficient basis to disregard Hungary’s right to decide.
Thus, ignoring Hungary’s position, they decided to use 1.4 billion euros of European Peace Facility funds to finance new arms transfers to Ukraine,” he said.
“This is a clear red line. Never before has such a shameless breach and disregard of common European rules been shown. Moreover, it is precisely those who are pushing for the rule of law procedures at full volume and talking about the endangerment of democratic values who are breaking European rules,” he continued. “The self-anointed champions of democracy and the rule of law have now flouted the rules in the most shameless way possible by excluding Hungary from this decision,” Péter Szijjártó concluded.
Via MTI, Featured image: Facebook/Szijjártó Péter