According to the prime minister, the international pressure on Hungary to get involved in the war is immense.Continue reading
Hungary and the Hungarian people have already paid a high price for the war in Ukraine, and the great powers should therefore finally focus on peace-building instead of taking steps that risk prolonging and escalating the conflict, according to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó.
Speaking at the UN Security Council’s open debate on peacemaking and peacekeeping in New York on Thursday, Szijártó thanked the Japanese presidency of the body for convening the meeting, saying that it was both extremely timely and unique, as international political discourse is still dominated by war rhetoric.
The rhetoric of war is very loud, while the rhetoric of peace is barely heard,”
he said. Szijjártó pointed out that as a neighbor of Ukraine, the negative effects of armed conflict are severely and immediately felt in Hungary, which is why the government is extremely interested in peace.
More than a million refugees have left Ukraine through Hungary, Hungary is carrying out its largest humanitarian operation ever, the annual cost of energy imports has risen from around €7 billion to €17 billion, and inflation is sky-high, he stated. Moreover, he pointed out, besides Ukrainians, a large number of Transcarpathian Hungarians are also victims of the war.
“The Hungarian people made it very clear in last year’s parliamentary elections that this is not our war, we do not want this war and we do not want to take part in any war against anyone,” he stressed.
Szijjártó highlighted the tragic consequences of the war: thousands of people are dying, millions are displaced, families are being torn apart, and sanctions are a huge challenge for the European economy.
It may look a little different hundreds or thousands of kilometers away, an ocean away, but believe me, we who live in the neighbourhood see the situation as very serious. Please take this message from the immediate neighborhood: this war must end immediately because we are in the 25th hour, we must focus on peace,”
he added.
Szijjártó also reacted to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s statement that “we are fighting a war with Russia:”
“We are not at war with anyone, we do not want to be at war with anyone, we want to stay out of this war; the security of Hungary and the Hungarian people is the most important thing for us,
the Minister stressed. “The Hungarian people are not responsible for this war, the Hungarian people are not to blame for the outbreak of this war, the Hungarian people did not want this war,” he added.
Featured photo via Facebook/Szijjártó Péter