Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Szijjarto has criticized European Union’s attempts to prohibit his country from engaging in contacts with Moscow in order to settle the conflict in Ukraine.
Hungarian Premier, Viktor Orban held talks with Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on July 2, and three days later met in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Then he visited Beijing for a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and went to Washington where he talked with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a NATO summit.
Later, he traveled to Florida for a meeting with ex-US President Donald Trump with whom he also discussed the ways of settling the Ukrainian crisis.
His visits to Moscow and Beijing triggered open criticism in Brussels, where European leaders said that although the country holds the rotating presidency in the Council of the European Union, they gave Hungary no powers to negotiate on the part of the entire European community.
The Hungarian government replied that Orban represented his own country during these visits, and his peace mission will continue despite criticism.
Commenting on latest criticism of Orban for his peace-oriented efforts with regard to Ukraine, Szijjarto asserted, “Not only is this unacceptable, but It’s also a scandal when, in the 21st century, a country is stigmatized only for favoring a negotiated solution and using its communication channels with the parties, who disagree on key issues.”
“It is so obvious that the pro-war politicians of the EU are unhappy [with] what we have been doing because they do not want peace, they want this war to be continued. They do not care about the escalation, but we do.”
Peter Szijjarto
In a separate comment, Szijjarto said that the EU had “threatened to boycott us…threatened to ignore us,” but this pressure has made Budapest even more eager to continue with its peace efforts.
Hungary To Continue Mission To Settle Ukrainian Crisis
Moreover, Hungarian Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto told journalists that his country will continue its efforts to settle the Ukrainian conflict.
“We all know that this war doesn’t have a solution in the battlefield, that has been proved already for the last two-and-a-half years very clearly,” he stated.
“And if there’s no solution in the battlefield, then the solution is only around the negotiating table,” he stressed.
“If we block the channels of communication, if we don’t talk to each other, if we organize events where only one party of the two having war is present, then we will not come to a solution. So, therefore, we will continue our peace mission.”
Peter Szijjarto
He said that Hungary does not “take too much care about the attacks” in connection with the peace mission of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
“Because if you only take care of the attacks, then you don’t have time for real things to be done, right?” he asked.
“We have to continue this peace mission of ours, especially putting into consideration that my feeling is that the global majority is on our side, and the global majority wants peace, the global majority wants the diplomatic channels to be reopened.”
Peter Szijjarto
When asked to specify whether Budapest had a peace plan on paper, he remarked, “Actually, we have said it so many times that I’m pretty sure that it’s being put on a lot of papers in a lot of places of the world.”
“There should be a ceasefire established as soon as possible, which would give the chance for peace talks to be started,” Szijjarto said.
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