20 Hungarian soldiers were deployed, seven of whom were seriously injured during the military operation at the mayor's office of the municipality of Zvecan in Kosovo.Continue reading
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has asked Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to consider the possibility of Serbia releasing the three Kosovo police officers who were arrested in Serbia last Wednesday. The Hungarian Prime Minister made the remarks on Tuesday in Palic, where the Hungarian-Serbian Strategic Cooperation Council was formed.
At a press conference following the event, the prime minister pointed to the situation in Kosovo: Hungary is following events there closely and is aware of the violations suffered by the Serbs.
He said he considered it unacceptable for the international community to accept an election as legitimate with less than four percent turnout. Hungarians see and understand the problem, he underlined.
He also called on Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to
consider the possibility of Serbia releasing the three Kosovo police officers who were arrested in Serbia last Wednesday. In his opinion, this would help Serbia in international politics.
In response to the latter request, the President of Serbia replied that the case of the arrested policemen was a matter for the Serbian judicial authorities, as after the arrest, a dispute arose over the exact location of the incident.
Speaking about Hungarian-Serbian relations, Orbán said that as soon as Hungary and Serbia realized that they could not be prisoners of history, relations between the two countries immediately began to develop.
“Today, all over the world, people are talking about why who is not cooperating with whom. Decoupling, derisking, these are the words of international politics.
We are setting a good example to the world that you don’t have to say who you don’t want to cooperate with, but you should try to cooperate with as many countries as possible,”
he underlined.
“What I have found over the last long years is that there are things in common in the DNA of both countries. I see that freedom, sovereignty, and independence are in the DNA of Serbs, and the same is true of Hungarians,” the Prime Minister stressed, adding that when Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that the Hungarians give respect to the Serbs, it is because of this common DNA.
Today we held the first meeting of the- strategic council with @avucic, @anabrnabic, @KatalinNovak_HU and members of the two governments. and are both on the side of peace. For this reason I asked President @avucic to let the three Kosovars in Serbian custody go home.… pic.twitter.com/swiyQjLnel
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) June 20, 2023
Orbán stressed that this was the 32nd time he had met Aleksandar Vucic.
“Friendship and alliance in politics can only be achieved through hard work,” he highlighted. When Hungary and Serbia decided not to be prisoners of history, but to shape it, the cooperation that is still working today began, he added.
The prime minister pointed out that important issues were linked on Tuesday in the framework of the meeting of the Hungarian-Serbian Strategic Cooperation Council.
“Serbia is not a member of NATO, Hungary is. Serbia is not a member of the European Union, Hungary is. Serbia is an Orthodox Christian country, Hungary is a Roman Christian country. Serbia is in the Balkans, Hungary is in Central Europe. These differences do not make cooperation more difficult, but add value,” he said, emphasizing that
if these two different countries were linked in a strategic cooperation, enormous energies would be released, and both Serbs and Hungarians could only benefit from this.
Via MTI, Featured photo via Facebook/Orbán Viktor