Hungarian foreign minister says European politicians are jealous of PM Orbán
“Hungary’s peace mission is causing huge frustration across Europe,” Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in an interview published by the Swiss weekly Weltwoche on Wednesday.
Europe’s politicians are “jealous” of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, since “it has become very clear that our prime minister is the only one in Europe that can reach such players of global politics and security” as the presidents of Russia, China, Türkiye, or former US president Donald Trump, Szijjártó said.
Busy July for PM Orbán:
“European politicians are also frustrated because they are terrified … of it becoming obvious to everybody that they have not only pursued an ill-advised and unsuccessful strategy in terms of the war, but that strategy has also caused huge damage to Europe,” he said.
Leaders of the EU “have made it clear that Hungary is not authorised to represent the EU in those talks”, Szijjártó said, but stressed that Orban “did not speak in the name of the EU … obviously, we are fully aware that the rotating presidency has nothing to do with a diplomatic representation of the EU”.
Orban made his foreign visits “in his own role, because the European Union is not currently considered an important player in world politics”, the minister said. Orban, on the other hand, is “one of the prime ministers having served the longest time in his post in Europe, he has broad credibility in the world, and he is revered for his vision of the future and for the courage to promote that vision”, Szijjártó added.
Hungarian foreign minister waiting for Trump
Concerning a decision by Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, to move a planned informal meeting of EU foreign and defence ministers from Budapest to Brussels, Szijjártó said it was “childish revenge”, adding that “ministers of 13 EU members including the largest countries” had supported that the meeting should be held in Budapest.
Concerning the war in Ukraine, Szijjártó said Russia was “gaining more ground by the day” and “it is not a pressing issue for them to find any solution”. “Ukraine is asking for more and more support … they are getting it because the US has a Democrat administration and … we cannot expect either of the belligerents to come up with a solution, which means that the solution must come from the outside,” he said. “There are three actors: the US, China, and still, Europe … but Europe is lagging behind the US, copying the American strategy and acting in this sense as an assistant to the US, without a voice of its own … while China is on the side of peace,” he said, noting the peace plan the Chinese and Brazilian foreign ministers had tabled. “The incumbent US government is obviously pro-war; if there is a change [in the US], at least two out of the three great powers will support peace and that could redraw the picture completely,” Szijjártó said. Trump’s return to power could “lend new momentum” to those changes, Szijjártó insisted.
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