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Brussels and Warsaw want to intensify their anti-Hungarian smear campaign in Ukraine, which aims to prevent a Hungarian referendum on Kyiv’s accession to the European Union, said Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on Thursday in Antalya.
Following the informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Mr. Szijjártó emphasized that his “Hungarian-hating” Polish counterpart, who is “one of the most bellicose politicians in Europe,” has now repeated all the accusations that we have heard in recent days and weeks as part of the Ukrainian smear campaign.
Of course, I firmly rejected the Polish foreign minister’s accusations and made it clear that this is a smear campaign against Hungary,”
Péter Szijjártó underlined.
❗️@FM_Szijjarto: Brussels and Warsaw are reinforcing Ukraine’s anti-Hungarian smear campaign to undermine the Hungarian people’s right to vote on Ukraine’s EU membership.
️ FM Szijjártó rejected @sikorskiradek‘s accusations and made it clear that this is a smear campaign… pic.twitter.com/wH5IzL0G9W
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) May 15, 2025
“Anti-Hungarian propaganda is constantly growing in Ukraine, and it is clear that Brussels and Warsaw also want to reinforce this anti-Hungarian smear campaign, and it is obvious that all this is happening now in order to prevent the Hungarian people from expressing their opinion on Ukraine’s EU membership,” the Foreign Minister added. “That is why I ask everyone to take part in the Voks 2025 referendum and not allow Brussels, Warsaw, or Kyiv to decide over the heads of the Hungarian people on Ukraine’s EU membership,” he continued.
Szijjártó said that in preparation for the NATO summit in June, there had been lengthy discussions about a proposal to increase member states’ defense budgets to five percent of gross domestic product (GDP). He emphasized that for the time being, only 20 of the 32 member states had reached the previously prescribed two percent level. However, he added,
it is justified to set a new target, especially given that many allies have transferred a significant part of their arsenals to Ukraine in recent years, thereby greatly weakening NATO’s overall defense capabilities.
He pointed out that Hungary has been consistently meeting its military budget targets since 2023, and is even spending 45 percent of these funds on development, which is the fifth highest percentage in NATO.
However, he said it was important to clarify that NATO is not an offensive but a defensive alliance, adding that when we talk about defense, we are talking about our own defense, not the defense of some external actor. “The defense of Ukraine is not the defense of the alliance, not the defense of the community, not the defense of NATO. Ukraine is currently the threat,” he argued.
Szijjártó then emphasized that if a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia were to break out over Ukraine, it would mean World War III, so now is the time to reinforce the “red lines” that have been drawn so far, i.e., to make it clear that such an escalation of the conflict must be avoided. The Minister said that in light of this, it was alarming that several of his colleagues had again spoken of sending more money and more weapons to Ukraine. “Hungary will continue to send neither weapons nor money to Ukraine. We will defend Hungary, and we do not consider it in Hungary’s security interests to finance a million-strong army in our neighborhood,” he noted.
Via MTI, Featured photo via Facebook/Péter Szijjártó
