Brussels to Extract Over €52 M Payment from Hungary

FM Peter Szijjarto: The EU has devised a new plan for Ukraine, and the thirteenth sanctions package is also on the table.

Fotó: MARTON_KIRALY

The minister also informed his colleagues that Hungary will certainly not "spend 23 billion forints (over €52 million) of Hungarian taxpayers' money in a single year for others to deliver Ukraine weapons that will prolong the war and the suffering, cause more people to die and greater destruction".

13th sanctions package on the way?

The agenda also included talk of adopting a 13th package of anti-Russian sanctions, despite the previous restrictions having primarily harmed Europe and not brought a settlement any closer.

Of course, if you bring this point up, as I do regularly, you are immediately accused of spreading Russian propaganda,

FM Szijjarto noted.

The foreign minister warned his colleagues against trying to extend sanctions to the nuclear industry, as Hungary will not support any such move. 

In this context, he pointed out the incongruity of Russia becoming the number one supplier of uranium to the United States last year, to the tune of one billion dollars, according to reports.

In response to questions from journalists, he said that the main driver behind the new package of sanctions proposed by some against Russia is the need to comply with expectations. He said that several EU member states wanted to show the optics of action.

 

Meeting with Ukrainian FM and EU summit

At the press conference, the foreign minister underlined that he will meet his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and the head of the Kyiv presidential office, Andriy Yermak, in Uzhhorod (Ungvar) on January 29 to sort through all the issues currently causing difficulties in bilateral relations.

Among them, he said, is the issue of Hungary refusing to contributed to the payment of another 500 million euros from the European Peace Facility for arms shipments to Ukraine.

On this point, we said that we are willing to consider releasing this aid if guarantees are given that Ukraine will cease negatively discriminating against Hungarian companies, or causing them problems by putting them undeservedly and pointlessly on the list of international sponsors of the war.

In connection with the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU, Peter Szijjarto reiterated Hungary's position that the European Council in December made an "incorrect, bad and harmful decision", for which Hungary does not want to assume any responsibility.

And that will continue to be our position. Of course, we understand that they are trying to discredit this position and put pressure on us, sometimes by saying that the position is not tough enough, sometimes by other means, but we are not swayed by this. We are sworn to represent the national interest of Hungary, and the pressure they have put on us in this matter has had no effect on the Hungarian position so far,

he underlined. Regarding next week's extraordinary EU summit, he confirmed that the government would not be a partner in "conflating unrelated issues". "That's why it's not worth approaching us in bazaar-like fashion with different options, let's not mix up unrelated things," he said.

Cover photo: Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto with his EU colleagues in Brussels (Source: Facebook/P Péter Szijjártó)