Hungarian PM urges end to war, defends national sovereignty, and praises European right-wing unity. Continue reading
According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, FM Péter Szijjártó emphasized at a joint press conference with his Croatian counterpart, Gordan Grlic Radman, that Hungary strives to maintain good relations with all its neighbors, including Croatia.
He expressed his gratitude to Zagreb for not joining the camp of those who “baselessly accuse and incite against” the Hungarian Government, when a petition was organized in Brussels against Hungary because of a law aimed at protecting children from violent gender propaganda.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, FM Péter Szijjártó at a joint press conference with his Croatian counterpart, Gordan Grlic Radman. Photo: MTI/KKM
He believes that the fact that the Hungarian Air Force will continue to participate in the protection of Croatian airspace until at least the end of this year, and that the two countries have always paid special attention to supporting national communities, also provides a good basis for cooperation. “The Croatian community in Hungary receives all the support it needs from the Hungarian Government, and we are happy to say that the Croatian Government has always paid attention to Hungarians in Croatia,” he added.
Péter Szijjártó pointed out that they would like to further develop bilateral cooperation, build new roads across the border, and see the new expressway connection with the extension of the M6 motorway completed in the near future.
“We would like to build a new bridge at Murakeresztúr (southwest Hungary). We would like to see new road connections between the two countries at Sárok (southern Hungary) and Zákány (southwest Hungary). And we would also like to see even closer energy cooperation between the two countries,” he said.
The Minister said that they had asked representatives of the largest energy companies from both countries to continue their negotiations on developing energy cooperation even more intensively than before.
He then stated that the Hungarian Government would never support any proposal from Brussels that would undermine the country’s energy security or lead to an increase in utility costs, and that it therefore firmly opposed the plan to ban imports of energy sources from Russia.
“This decision would cause utility costs for Hungarian families to double or triple, and we reject this in the strongest possible terms. We consider energy sovereignty to be an important part of our sovereignty, and we do not accept Brussels telling us what energy sources we can buy and from whom,” he continued.
The Minister emphasized that the government is interested in two aspects of energy imports: reliability and favorable prices.
“Of course, we are always interested in negotiating the purchase of cheaper and more reliable sources than the existing ones. At the same time, we will only switch if someone offers us cheaper and more reliable sources than we have had so far, and we will not accept being blackmailed into giving up well-functioning energy relationships,” he said.
“We are advocates of diversification, meaning that the more sources and routes we have for purchasing energy resources, the better. This is what inspires MOL and MVM when they are negotiating with their Croatian partners on strengthening energy cooperation between Hungary and Croatia,” he explained.
“I would like to tell you here that I will be representing Hungary at next week’s meeting of energy ministers, where our clear goal will be to prevent the Brussels plan that would cut Hungary off from its current energy sources,” he concluded.
Via MTI; Featured photo: Facebook/Péter Szijjártó