According to Roger Koppel, it is of crucial importance that the Hungarian prime minister "keeps the diplomatic channels open", because the war in Ukraine is claiming multitudes of lives every day. Thanks to his "heroic mission", there are already signs of positive developments in Ukrainian-Hungarian relations, as President Zelensky in a newspaper interview after PM Orban's departure from Kyiv welcomed the continuation of talks. The mood in the Ukrainian capital had been "frosty" before, but according to the feedback, as reported by MTI, the talks had been open and constructive.
The editor-in-chief of Weltwoche sees it as a step forward that the warring parties are now at least willing to talk about peace. Although both Moscow and Kyiv think that a ceasefire would help the other side, at least the possibility of negotiations has opened up, because Viktor Orban has managed to "open up positions".
"It is absolutely absurd that people in Brussels are outraged by this and say all these negative things about the Hungarian prime minister, while of course, they obviously view him with envy", added Roger Koppel, who also chalks up the new-found willingness of the Ukrainian president to sit down at the negotiating table with the Russian side as a merit of PM Orban.
In the M1 news program, the editor-in-chief also praised the formation of the Patriots for Europe European Parliament group, saying that this group could be the new conservative force in Brussels that serves as a counterweight to the mainstream.
Earlier, we reported that the Hungarian prime minister gave an interview to Weltwoche on the flight after the Moscow peace mission. Viktor Orban stated in the interview that he is the only "Western leader who has a chance to negotiate with both Kyiv and with Moscow".
He had addressed three questions to the Russian president and also revealed what kind of leader he sees Vladimir Putin as. At the end of the interview, he also indicated that the next surprise is not long in coming, but will only arrive on Monday.
Cover photo: Prime Minister Viktor Orban (right) takes part in a podium discussion at the anniversary celebration of the Swiss conservative weekly Weltwoche in Zurich on November 22, 2023. On the left, Roger Koppel, Weltwoche editor-in-chief and Swiss People's Party MP (photo: MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Vivien Cher Benko)
