In Sweden's bid to join NATO, politicians and public figures do not back away from using harsh tones against the Hungarian government, seemingly forgetting that Hungary needs to ratify their accession.Continue reading
The accession of a country at war cannot be on the agenda at the NATO summit in Vilnius, and the organization must not become a party to the conflict in Ukraine, as that would risk a third world war, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Oslo on Thursday.
Following an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Péter Szijjártó said that as a neighboring country, Hungary is experiencing the negative effects of the war to the fullest, and therefore the government would like to see peace as soon as possible; however, this position remains in the minority in the transatlantic region.
He recalled that the military organization had stated last year that it was not involved in the conflict in Ukraine and was doing its utmost to avoid direct confrontation with Russia. “Fortunately, there were no signals today at the Foreign Ministers’ meeting that would have called into question the validity of our earlier decision,” he said, pointing out that this decision must be confirmed at the summit in Vilnius in July and that the risk of escalation must be avoided.
On the possible membership of Ukraine in NATO, the minister said that “we must speak clearly; the accession of a country at war must not be on the agenda”.
“I think that there is a closed consensus on this, (..) but it is clear that some countries do not dare or do not want to speak so firmly and directly in public,” he added.
Szijjártó also spoke out against any kind of combat training for Ukrainian forces under the NATO flag, which could lead to an escalation of the conflict.
He said that bilateral combat training and training of military medical specialists were fine, but that joint training by the alliance would contradict previous decisions.
The Foreign Minister also underlined that there is great pressure for Hungary to finally ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO, but the government’s position is clear that the date for this will be decided by Parliament. “We are not prepared to accept any pressure. The Hungarian Parliament will decide on ratification in a sovereign manner, which the government will of course support,” he stated.
Featured photo via Facebook/Péter Szijjártó