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Finland's FM Thanks Hungary for NATO Accession Ratification

• 6 Apr 2023 9:06 AM
• Hungary Matters

Finland’s foreign minister has thanked Hungary for ratifying its NATO membership, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in Brussels, adding that Helsinki promised to lobby for the rights of national minorities in Ukraine in European forums.

Szijjártó said his Finnish counterpart had requested the meeting, and the minister said Finland fully grasped concerns concerning the rights of Transcarpathian Hungarians, according to a foreign ministry statement. He added at a press briefing after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers that the Finnish government had already raised the issue at several meetings.

Responding to a journalist’s question, Szijjártó said it was unclear what role the election defeat of the Finnish government had played in Helsinki’s recent decision to join a court case on the side of the European Commission against Hungary’s child protection law.

He said the government would take the side of Hungarian children, “regardless of how many countries decide to join the suit against us”.

On the topic of Sweden’s NATO accession process, the minister said the government had submitted its proposal to parliament on approving the country’s membership of the alliance last summer, and the voting schedule depended on the Fidesz parliamentary group, adding that putting pressure on lawmakers would not help their cause.

Noting that his Swedish counterpart had requested a meeting regarding “the government’s conditions”, Szijjártó said the government “has no conditions; MPs will decide.”

Asked about the arraignment of Donald Trump, he said Hungary-US relations during the former president’s term in office had been at their best. He added that the mainstream, “be it political, judicial or the media, can’t stand Donald Trump.”

“The mainstream sees Donald Trump as a threat … and in this way disregards the will of the people.” Szijjártó said the government wished Trump “much success and perseverance”, and that hopefully political relations would be restored “to what they once were”.

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