Orban thanked Fico on behalf of Hungary and Hungarians for "the many bold decisions, expressions of friendship and initiatives" he had taken in the interest of the two countries’ friendship in the recent period.

"If someone had said 15 years ago that we’d be standing here talking about the two countries’ relations in this tone, most likely few would have believed this to be possible," he said.

Orban said Slovakia and the Slovak people would always be able to count on Hungary, and Hungarians, too, were counting on Slovakia given the two countries’ "numerous shared interests".

The prime minister said he considered Hungary’s ethnic Slovak community "a valuable and respectable part" of the country, vowing to do everything he could to ensure that they preserve their cultural and political identity.

Bilateral trade between the two countries exceeds 15 billion euros, which makes Slovakia Hungary's third most important trading partner, Orban said.

Both are modern industrial countries, "and so it is in our interest that no tariff war should weaken our economies," he added.

Orban said the talks touched on issues around peace, sovereignty and energy supplies.

Regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, Orban said: "Our task in Europe would be to welcome peace initiatives concerning the Russia-Ukraine war, as the fact alone that the US and Russia are in talks has basically eliminated the danger of escalation."

Orban said he was "convinced" that the war had no solution on the battlefield, "so we Europeans, including in Brussels, should be supporting peace initiatives."

On migration, Orban said: "We are a migrant-free country, and we don't want to sacrifice the future of our children for a misguided migration policy."

"I am convinced that no one may limit member states' sovereignty on migration policy, and no one may decide instead of Hungarians and Slovaks whom they have to live together with as a result of migration," Orban said.

That decision must be rooted in national sovereignty, he said.
 

Orban also touched on infrastructure development, saying that Hungary and Slovakia plan to build three new connecting roads along with three new bridges and plan to launch new train services between the two countries. The renovation of several old border crossing points is also planned, he added.

Orban said he and Fico had agreed on the need for constant developments as part of their bilateral cooperation.

Under an earlier agreement, Hungary and Slovakia increased the number of border crossing points from 22 to 40, "but now we need more roads, bridges and rail links," Orban said.

On the matter of energy supplies, Orban said the capacity of the interconnector between the gas networks of Hungary and Slovakia will be increased by another 900 million cubic metres. Orban said it was "regrettable" that Ukraine was blocking natural gas transit across its territory.

"We don’t think this is the path of the future," Orban said. "It’ll be very difficult for Ukraine to establish closer ties with Europe like this; they should show much more understanding towards our countries and should also take our economic interests into consideration."

Noting that the capacity of the gas interconnector between Hungary and Slovakia has already been raised once to 3.5 billion cubic metres, Orban said he and Fico have agreed to increase it by another 900 million cubic metres.

Orban said he and Fico were also in agreement that since both Hungary and Slovakia are landlocked countries they should insist on being exempt from the sanctions on crude oil imports.

Meanwhile, Orban said democracy was not linked to Brussels but to the member states. He called it "wrong and disrespectful" that "the competencies of member states are being constantly curbed by stealthy amendments of competencies and by the misinterpretation and re-interpretation of the basic treaty."

"We want ... Brussels to show respect for member states, and not only symbolically but also by respecting their interests," he said.

Asked how the representation of European interests could be guaranteed while member states were lobbying for growing sovereignty, Orban said Brussels was not the one to guarantee European values for member states. "The situation is not that Brussels is the guardian of democracy and then tells us what democracy is. It is the other way around, Brussels comprises bureaucrats."

Democracy in Slovakia or Hungary is not guaranteed by Brussels, but rather "we are guaranteeing the democratic nature of Brussels from Slovakia and Hungary, against the bureaucracy there," he said. "Brussels is full of bureaucrats, and bureaucrats are the friends of bureaucracy, not democracy."

He said the unanimity principle must be kept in place on issues of foreign policy, because scrapping it "would basically eliminate the sovereignty of our states."

"Imagine if unanimity was not a requirement on matters of foreign policy, and so certain member states could not represent their own interests, and we could be dragged into a war against the will of our peoples and governments," he said.

Responding to a question, Orban said he and Fico "love our countries and stand up for them, whenever necessary, in a forthright fashion."

"That is, we don't do that in the corridor, we don't obfuscate, we state clearly what the interests of our countries are and we think that this is the morally right way; we also identify our interests correctly, and we take part in debates from a confident position," he said.

He said Hungary and Slovakia were constructive members of the EU, and have made proposals on several issues jointly and separately. As an example, he pointed to a proposal on amendments to the Green Deal to ensure "energy production at sensible and acceptable prices, and the integration of nuclear energy into the energy mix".

Regarding the tariff war, Orban said Hungary is proposing that industry tariffs be reduced to 2.5 percent.

"We constantly have proposals, and I would like you to see our constructive commitment to Europe, and not only national resistance and sovereignty. We are members of the European Union because both our countries, Slovakia and Hungary, have a vested interest in being the member of a successful Europe," he said.
 

Orban invited Fico for an official visit to Hungary, which the Slovak prime minister accepted.

Source: 
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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