Hungarian President: Hungary strives for a quick ceasefire in Ukraine
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As a member of the European Union and NATO, Hungary stands by its allies and strives for a quick ceasefire in Ukraine, President Katalin Novák told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published on Tuesday.
President Novák said that amid the war situation, strong European leaders are needed who have honest private discussions but who engage in joint strategic thinking based on mutual respect. President Novák is in Rome on Tuesday and Wednesday at the invitation of Italian President Sergio Mattarella. Hungary has always fulfilled its international obligations and will continue to do so, Novák said in the first interview given to a foreign outlet since she was elected president.
“To me, the question is how to stop Russian aggression and avoid the outbreak of a third world war at the same time,” she said, noting that there were 150,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Transcarpathia. Europe must say: “No more; Putin has crossed the Rubicon,” the president said. At the same time, the means employed to achieve that goal will vary from country to country, she said. She said Hungary always had relations with Russia, and would continue to do so, “similarly to the ties between Europe and Russia or Ukraine and Russia”.
Hungary, which currently receives 55 percent of the crude consumed and 80 percent of the gas consumed from Russia, is working on curbing its energy exposure to Russia, she said. While Hungary has no wish to interfere with domestic affairs of other countries, it cannot remain silent when a sovereign country is attacked, she said. “We Hungarians have vivid memories of Soviet imperialism and power; we rejected it in 1956, in 1989, and will do so today,” she said.
The president said Europe’s true calling was to find unity while accepting that “our history, talents, culture, and thinking are very different”. Europe’s common foundation is its Judeo-Christian roots and Christian culture, she said. “The European Union can still be a success story as long as we don’t abandon our Christian culture and continue to make … common decisions. [Yet] I don’t want to live in a country or a world where there is no room for differences of opinion,” she said.
Amid the war situation, strong European leaders are needed who have honest private discussions but who engage in joint strategic thinking based on mutual respect, she added. Novák said Hungary maintained friendly ties with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Hungarians and Italians had similar views on taking firm action against illegal migration, promoting the EU integration of the Western Balkans, protecting Christians around the world, and supporting family values. The president said European people had different views on migration, with some who wanted to see more economic immigrants and others fewer, and she added that this must be accepted.
How exactly are you protecting “Christians around the world” while putting Christians in Ukraine in harms way while supporting the very unChristian policies of Russia, such as forcable relocatiing Ukrianians, killing woman and children enmass? Do you support Chistians if it means falling under the very Russian rule that Hungarians died to excape in 1956? You are talking yourself into knots trying to have it both ways. The words Christian and war should never be in the same converstation. Tyranny usually comes wrapped in a flag and carring a bible that is soon dropped after power is achieved. WAKE UP