EU Just Set World Record in Hypocrisy, Says Hungarian FM
- 17 Dec 2024 7:43 AM

Szijjarto told a press conference after a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council that the EU "has Georgia in its crosshairs" because a "pro-peace, patriotic, conservative party" had won the elections, rather than liberal forces.
According to a ministry statement, Szijjarto rejected the EU's "brutal political attack", saying that the Georgian Dream party had governed for 12 years, "during which the average income has tripled and GDP and the volume of external investments have doubled."
The ruling party in Georgia had performed well and earned the trust of voters, he said. "Nobody in Brussels has the right to question the will of the Georgian people."
The minister said the reports of police brutality at demonstrations in Tbilisi were "one-sided", and there had been "violent elements" among the demonstrators as well. According to his Georgian counterpart, some 40 police officers were injured as a result, he said.
The EU "can't impose sanctions on a country because they decided to push back accession talks to 2028," he said. "There was a puffed-up, resentful, frustrated approach to Georgia, which I refused to support."
Regarding the situation in Syria, Szijjarto said the country must not be allowed to become a hotbed of terrorism or extremist ideologies, and migration waves in the direction of Europe must be prevented. Further, the persecution of Christians must be stopped, he added.
"Hungary continues to provide aid for Christian communities so they can stay in their homeland and preserve their rights ... So far we have provided humanitarian support worth some 30 million euros for Syrian communities, and we will continue to do so," Szijjarto said.
Meanwhile, Szijjarto: Govt has not financially aided arms shipments to Ukraine
The Hungarian government has refused to contribute 6.5 billion euros of compensation to European Union member states that have shipped arms to Ukraine, Peter Szijjarto, the foreign minister said in Brussels.
Szijjarto told a press conference after a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council that Hungary raised the sole veto to the payment of approximately 6.5 billion euros from the European Peace Facility to member states that have supplied weapons to Ukraine, thereby withholding around 77 million euros of Hungarian money.
He added that neither had Hungary supplied weapons nor contributed to the shipment of arms.
But if the other EU member states "want to do so voluntarily, Hungary will not stand in their way", he said.
Hungary will not give a nod to relocating a EU training mission coordination unit to Kyiv, or the deployment of EU advisors to Kyiv to coordinate the reform of the Ukrainian security sector, he added.
Szijjarto said deploying people to Kyiv for the purposes of training, coordination and advice as part of an EU programme was "extremely risky" and risked escalation.
Regarding the 15th sanctions package against Russia, which allows Hungarian oil and gas company MOL to export products derived from Russian crude oil, the minister called the exemption "important". "As we managed to strip out the crazy ideas ... we did not veto it in the end," he said.
Commenting on the attempt to put Patriarch Kirill on the sanctions list, he said punishing church leaders "should be avoided at all costs", adding that all hopes for peace would be lost if lines of communication involving churches were cut.
Also, he said the EU had also tried to put Russia's UN ambassador on the list, "which is strange as the UN is the last port of call for political consultations..."
"We vetoed this and also signalled that we won't at all support the sanctioning of the Russian Olympic Committee. Mixing sports and politics ... is unacceptable."
Szijjarto said a new reality had emerged in the war in Ukraine owing to the election win of Donald Trump and to Russian military victories on the battlefield. Far from being "Putinist propaganda," even his Ukrainian counterpart had confirmed the facts on the ground, he added.
He said that, "sadly", this new state of affairs had been ignored in Brussels as most EU member states were still pushing a "failed war strategy" and feeding the risk of escalation.
Regarding a Christmas truce, he said no one at today's council meeting had backed a ceasefire "that would save lives". Some at the meeting had even spoken against the proposal of a truce, he added.
Szijjarto called his Polish counterpart's suggestion that Ukrainian men of military age living in the EU should have their social support withdrawn "harsh".
Szijjarto: Three Montenegro EU accession chapters closed
Three EU accession chapters with Montenegro have been closed, Peter Szijjarto, the foreign minister, in Brussels on Monday, adding that after 7.5 years the integration process was speeding up thanks to the Hungarian EU presidency.
After the EU-Montenegro Intergovernmental Conference, Szijjarto told a press conference that Hungary's presidency prioritised enlargement in view of the importance of stability, peace and development in the Western Balkans.
The region's countries have been in the EU membership corridor for 15 years on average, he said, adding that in the absence of rapid progress, "we'd be putting not only the credibility of enlargement policy at risk but that of the entire EU in peril, too".
Montenegro submitted its application in 2008, became a candidate in 2010, and negotiations began in 2012, he said.
A merit-based process in theory had not worked in practice, "and somehow enlargement didn't make progress even if the performance of candidate countries was good".
Negotiation chapters on intellectual property rights, media, and enterprise and industrial policy were closed, he noted, adding that the last time the EU wrapped up a negotiation chapter with Montenegro was seven and a half years ago.
Szijjarto said Montenegro brought strength, momentum, freshness to the bloc, "something that we sorely need", as well as "mutual benefits for Montenegro and the whole EU".
Montenegro brought few risks as the bloc could easily handle the increase in population, he said. As a NATO and a unilateral adopter of the euro currency, adaptation would be smooth, he added.
Hungary's largest bank, OTP, "is the market leader in Montenegro", and Hungarian telecommunications company 4iG also plays an important role in Montenegro's digitalisation development, he said.
Montenegro's prime minister, Milojko Spajic, expressed gratitude to the Hungarian presidency for its work in speeding up the enlargement process.
Source:
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.
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