The press conference also addressed the Israeli conflict and the EU's budget amendment proposal.Continue reading
Hungary is against terrorism, and therefore does not support migration, because anyone who supports migration also supports terrorism, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Brussels on Thursday.
Speaking at the two-day EU summit, the prime minister expressed the hope that Brussels would also recognize that there is an obvious link between terrorist acts and migration. He said that the EU wants to collect more money from Member States to give to the EU’s migration-related reception policy and to the Ukrainians.
He stressed that Hungary’s position is clear:
It does not want to give money to migrants or Ukraine, except on the basis of a very thorough proposal. But the current proposals lack serious technical and political arguments.
“Giving more money will not work, we will reject it,” he stated.
In response to a question on the war in Ukraine, the prime minister said that Hungary has a peace plan and intends to keep all channels of communication open with Russia in the hope of its acceptance. Hungary is the only country that stands for peace in the interests of all Europeans, he said. Hungary has a transparent and very clear peace strategy and wants to do its utmost to achieve it.
He therefore believes that all possible channels of communication with the Russians must be kept open, otherwise there is no chance for peace.
On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said: Hungary stands up for Israel’s right to defend itself and to ensure that a terrorist attack like the one on October 7 by the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas against the State of Israel never happens again. He also stated the need to ensure humanitarian aid.
Both the Hungarian and the European position is that if either of the two Mediterranean countries, Israel and Egypt, becomes unstable, there could be an immediate wave of migration from the region to Europe. In order to avoid this, these countries must be stabilized, as stability in the region is in the interest of Europeans, the prime minister emphasized.
In response to a question, Orbán expressed the hope that in the final declaration to be adopted at the summit, the leaders of the Member States would grant Georgia candidate status.
The prime minister’s Political Director Balázs Orbán told journalists that the Western strategy on the Russian-Ukrainian war has failed, and Europe must adopt a new strategy aimed at a ceasefire and peace negotiations. He said that the strategy of European countries supporting Ukraine’s struggle and Russia losing was a sign of a crisis of EU leadership.
As the events of the past months “show more clearly than ever that this has not happened,” Hungary has proposed to start peace talks as soon as possible and to adopt a ceasefire agreement as soon as possible, he said.
On the Commission’s proposal for the mid-term review of the EU’s long-term budget, also known as the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), he said that Hungary’s position was that it was not suitable for negotiations.
He stated that
first of all, it should be clarified what happened to the funds that the EU has so far provided to Ukraine.
Moreover, with European Parliament elections next year and new EU leadership from the autumn, any budget can only be adopted for a transitional period, he pointed out. The legitimacy of the future institutional leadership cannot be limited by such a long-term commitment, he added.
Finally, Balázs Orbán said that all financial and budgetary issues could only be discussed after the adoption of a new strategy, when it would be known exactly what the European Union would finance. The Hungarian position is that the EU leaders should admit that the approach taken so far had not worked and should develop a new one. Only then can the necessary financial resources be allocated, he underscored.
Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Benko Vivien Cher