During a break in the informal meeting of the EU foreign affairs council, Peter Szijjarto noted that a pro-war atmosphere continues to prevail among his colleagues. Brussels' position is that even more money and weapons must be sent to Ukraine – they want war instead of peace, and they want to make the Hungarian people pay the price.
Hungary, the Hungarian government will make every effort to prevent this. Our position is that the focus should be on peacemaking and to exit this war instead of plowing further in. And people's money should not be poured in a bottomless pit,"
he underlined.
The current Polish presidency of the EU has proposed establishing a new financial instrument to fund the armament of Ukraine, he said.
Hungary does not support any initiative that aims to send even more money and weapons to Ukraine, especially when we, Hungarians, have to foot the bill,
he warned. He made it clear that
the Hungarian government will not support the proposal for EU staff to train Ukrainian soldiers in Ukraine because this crosses a red line and would pose a serious risk of escalation.
"Nor do we support financing Ukraine's defense industry from European monies. European taxpayers' money should support the European economy and the economies of European countries, instead of developing Ukraine’s defense industry," he stated.
Peter Szijjarto criticized plans by Brussels to allocate a separate chapter of several hundred billion euros to finance Ukraine in the EU's next seven-year budget, despite the fact that the country is not yet a member of the bloc. "And they are obviously trying to prevent Hungary and the Hungarian people from participating in decision-making and blocking such a decision," he added.
Now the great champions of democracy, those that call to account others in Brussels, are destroying Europe's democracy by trying to find a workaround in matters where EU rules require unanimity,
he said.
"This is a disgrace, and we will not let it happen. We will not allow making the Hungarian people pay the price of the senseless support of Ukraine, nor the price of arming Ukraine. We will continue fighting against this. We stand up for peace and for the rights of the Hungarian people, who have the right to decide whether Ukraine can join the European Union or not," he said. He pointed out that this is why a public opinion vote has been announced, allowing the Hungarian people to decide whether Ukraine can become an EU member. If they decide against it, the government will represent that position, and since unanimity is required, Hungary’s vote will be decisive.
The minister finally touched on the agenda item concerning EU-US relations, stating that he has heard a "ridiculous litany of complaints" about how Washington allegedly interferes in the internal affairs of various countries.
I find this ridiculous because it was actually President Donald Trump who put an end to the US government using US financial resources in various parts of the world to harshly interfere in domestic political developments,
he pointed out. He welcomed the stop in the flow of USAID funds used for political and ideological interference, emphasizing that no one objected when tens of millions of dollars were sent to the Hungarian opposition from the US ahead of the 2022 elections, or when former US Ambassador David Pressman insulted the government on a daily basis.
"Nobody complained about interference in domestic political matters when Manfred Weber made it clear that his wish was for a Tisza Party puppet government to be formed in Hungary," he said. "We also see that the European Union and Brussels still want to interfere in the internal affairs of member states. This is also the case in Hungary, where they have already named who they want to see in power. In the same way, we see that they are trying to replace the lost USAID funds with European taxpayers' money, and we reject this," he added.
Cover photo: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto (Source: Facebook/Peter Szijjarto)
