Hungary FM: Best Chance of Ending War

The best chance of ending the war in Ukraine is if the European Parliament takes a turn rightwards and if Donald Trump is re-elected as US president, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said at a campaign event on Monday.

At a campaign event near Budapest on Monday, the minister first spoke about the war in Ukraine, pointing out that Hungary has been directly confronted with all its serious negative consequences for more than two years, and that members from the  Hungarian community in Transcarpathia have also died in the fighting, says the statement issued by the Ministry Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Peter Szijjarto pointed out that 

chances of ending the war in short order appear slim for now, partly because the vast majority of European political leaders are in a state of 'war psychosis', they feel the war is their own and see Ukraine as defending Europe and democracy, when it is not.

"Because the Ukrainians do not have to fight for the European Union or NATO, because no one has attacked the European Union, nor any other European country, nor NATO," he stressed.

In this context, he warned that Western responses may end up risking escalation. Weapons deliveries, for example, only lead to the geographical and temporal expansion of the fighting, while apparently neither side can prevail.

Speaking about the risks of a third world war, he touched on recent proposals which - as he put it - seek to "push" NATO into the war. 

He called it appalling that some European leaders have even brought up the use of nuclear weapons.

He emphasized that 

no solution on the battlefield exists, a settlement could only be reached through diplomacy, but unfortunately there is no impartial mediator today who could force the warring parties to negotiate.

This situation could change with the re-election of former US President Donald Trump, he opined.

Nothing offers a better chance to end the war at the moment than Donald Trump winning and the right wing here achieving change in the European Parliament elections on June 9,

he stressed.

During the panel discussion, Peter Szijjarto touched on Hungary not receiving the EU funds the country is entitled to, saying that these are not charity donations, these funds come from the work of the European people, including Hungarians, and that access to the funds were agreed upon in exchange for opening up Hungary's market.

"They could come here, they could make economic successes, they could take profits, and we get the funds. So what is happening is a serious breaking of a long-standing or decades-old agreement. Moreover, the reasons they cite are simply ridiculous," he said, recalling that in the last fourteen years the prosecutor's office has initiated proceedings against more politicians from the governing parties than from the opposition, which demonstrates the alleged lack of judicial independence.

Meanwhile, he said 

Hungary’s media are "the freest in Europe" as well as the most diverse,  there being no 'terror of opinion' like in the Western half of the continent, as everything and the opposite of everything can be published.

Addressing criticism of Hungary’s child protection law, he said that in Brussels it was 'a capital crime' for anyone to state that a family consists of a father, mother and children, and that the father is a man and the mother is a woman.

Hungary is not receiving EU funds because of its stance on the matter. This is a rather unworthy situation. I think that Brussels is in very serious breach of the law here. It is in very serious breach. Someone must therefore take responsibility for the fact that tens of billions of euros have not arrived for Hungary's development,

he said.

Even so, Hungary has proven its economic viability without EU funds, he said, highlighting that more people were in jobs after the pandemic than before it broke out, for example. 

"Hungarian economic solutions have proven that the economy is indeed capable of being effective, so that Hungary can emerge stronger from the crises," he underlined.

Speaking about relations with China, the minister pointed to the hypocrisy in global politics, saying that European countries are in fierce competition for investments from China, especially in the electric car industry, because the ten largest battery factories are all Eastern companies that also manufacture for Western vehicle brands..

"So Chinese batteries are needed for German electric cars. This is what the transition of the European green car industry looks like right now," he said.

Cover photo: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto (Source: Facebook/Peter Szijjarto)