"There will be no EU sanctions covering oil and gas, Hungary's energy supplies will be guaranteed in the coming period," PM Orbán said.Continue reading
Hungary’s national interest must be defended in Brussels in the next two days, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Wednesday, ahead of an EU and NATO summit.
“We must prevent ourselves from getting dragged into a conflict of war, and we must say ‘no’ to proposals that may lead to an air war with Russia,” Orbán said in a video message. “Proposals to extend sanctions against Russian aggression to the energy sector must be blocked, and this puts Hungary in a difficult — perhaps impossible — situation,” he added.
Orbán noted Hungary’s general election taking place in eleven days’ time, saying “this will be not only important, but decisive for us all.”
“We must protect all Hungary’s achievements made over the past twelve years,” the prime minister said. “We must focus on the election ahead with every single sinew for every second,” Orbán said, adding that in the meantime he had to travel to Brussels for two days “to defend Hungary’s interests against proposals that are on the table.”
Fidesz MEP Hidvéghi: Time for EU to make funding available for Hungary, Poland
The time has come for the EU to make funding available that Hungary and Poland are entitled to in light of the dangerous situation connected with the war in Ukraine, Balázs Hidvéghi, an MEP of ruling Fidesz, said in Brussels on Wednesday.
“The series of attacks and threats to withhold EU funding … was unacceptable before Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Hidvéghi told Hungarian journalists, adding that such attacks in the meantime were “scandalous”.
People arriving in EU territory with the largest ever refugee wave from Ukraine are being received and assisted in central European countries, he said. “In this situation, it is particularly important that the EU should demonstrate its political maturity,” Hidvéghi said, adding that “it is unity that is needed this time”.
Countries that receive refugees must be helped, he said, adding that “it is important that we help bring about peace with every effort”.
Hidvéghi emphasised the need to resolve the conflict through talks and to reach a ceasefire and a peace agreement as soon as possible. “Any steps or statements that would lead to an escalation of the conflict of war must be avoided,” the Fidesz MEP said.
Featured photo by Zoltán Fischer/PM’s Press Office
