He said the Paks project was an important milestone of energy security, which is one of the biggest challenges facing the EU at the moment.

Szijjártó said the foreign policy of opening towards the east would continue, as the country’s economy must stand on several pillars.

A lawmaker of the opposition E-PM, Zsuzsanna Szelényi, asked Szijjártó to explain Hungarian diplomacy’s decision to expatriate the Azeri axe murderer as well as about recent critical remarks on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán by former US president Bill Clinton on a TV talk show.

Szijjártó said Hungary had been fully in line with international laws in its practices regarding the Azeri murderer.

As for Clinton’s remarks, he said the former president had been “seriously misled” and he should have talked to US businessmen who invest in Hungary to learn that Hungarian-US relations were a success story.

Clinton told The Daily Show that Orbán had recently said he liked authoritarian capitalism and added that Orbán was just saying that he never wanted to leave power.

In response to another question, Szijjártó said Hungary would be present in the dynamically-growing Africa and Latin-America. He added that some conflict with the EU must be owned up to, but at other times agreement was the better policy.

He said plans to close the embassy in Tallinn would be reviewed and that efforts to improve Hungarian-Slovak relations would focus on highlighting joint economic success.

Tibor Bana, a lawmaker of the radical nationalist Jobbik party, said his party did not support Szijjártó’s appointment because the government’s foreign policy was not tough enough despite some of its positives.

Erzsébet Schmuck, of the opposition LMP, said Szijjártó would not strengthen Hungary’s independence but increase its vulnerability.

Szabolcs Kerék-Barczy, of the leftist DK, said Szijjártó would only be able to represent an authoritarian Orbán government as he was a man who had actively helped isolate Hungary on the international arena.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

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MTI photo: Szigetváry Zsolt