Hungary FM: Over the Past Two Years, We Have Successfully Protected Hungary from War

Every other member state of the European Union somehow drifted into the pro-war camp, and it was only possible for Hungary to stay out because of the political stability resulting from a two-thirds parliamentary majority, which is unique in the bloc.

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto (Photo: AFP/Attila Kisbenedek)

EU's strategy so far a failure

He described the strategy followed by the EU so far as a failure, saying that sanctions hurt Europe more than Russia, and instead of isolating the conflict, it has been globalized, while the continent's competitiveness and security are steadily deteriorating, and therefore a sharp turnaround would be needed.

He said that several of his EU colleagues hold a similar view, but they cannot say what they think because of the pressure from the liberal mainstream and the unstable, fragile political arrangements and coalition constraints.

"These are considerations that we don't need to take into account,  these approaches are unnecessary with a two-thirds majority," he underlined, adding that this is why some partners do not openly express support, but assure him of their support via text messages.

Unfortunately, this hypocrisy characterizes all European politics today, especially war policy,

the minister opined, specifically referring to energy cooperation with Russia in this context. 

So there is this amazing hypocrisy that everyone shakes their fists at the Russians, and when we turn our backs, in a split second, business is  done, and then they shake their fists again,

he said.  "Small states do not have the luxury of saying anything other than what they do. We have to do what we say and say what we do. Not the big ones. They are strong enough to act differently and speak differently, he pointed out.

"So what I want to say is that just because we are small and we don't have the largest army in the world, we shouldn't give up representing national interests," he concluded.

Cove photo: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto (Photo: AFP/Attila Kisbenedek)