Minister: Ukraine’s approach towards the EU and NATO only possible with Hungary’s consent

The head of the Prime Minister’s Office said the heightened dangers of the war in Ukraine waged by a nuclear power and adversarial militaries drifting into it must be brought to an end as quickly as possible.

Gulyás said Hungary rejected any decision that would lead to the war’s escalation. Regarding the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Gulyás said the statute of the court was not part of Hungary’s legal order since, not having been legally proclaimed, it contradicted the country’s constitution. Neither Russia nor the US accept the jurisdiction of the ICC, he added. We wrote about this in details HERE.

In response to the suggestion that NATO had bypassed Hungary by convening the Ukraine committee, Gulyás said the meeting was no more than a friendly forum for discussion since certain decisions can only be made unanimously. Hungary cannot prevent the consultation, but Ukraine’s approach towards either the European Union or NATO would not be possible without Hungary’s consent, he added.

Asked whether the government planned to change its strategy on Ukraine — supposing the convening of the NATO Ukraine committee may indicate the failure of the policy followed by Hungary so far — the minister said they had wanted make a change for a long time. The problem, he added, was that Ukraine refused to change its education law.

It had also been made clear, when Hungary supported allowing Ukraine to move towards EU candidate status, that there would be no membership or negotiations until basic human rights norms were complied with when it came to the use of European Union languages, he said, adding that Hungarian diplomacy had no other means at its disposal to address this issue.

Meanwhile, Gulyás said the debate that arose in parliament within the governing party groups regarding the NATO accession of Finland and Sweden has been resolved in the case of Finland, and hopefully this would soon happen in the case of Sweden as well.

Addressing the issue of the grain market, Gulyás said the EU had not provided compensation to Hungary over the market-distorting effect of Ukrainian grain. Whereas six countries had submitted claims for compensation, he said only three had received funding. It was wrong of the EU not to provide compensation, he said, since the effect on prices in Hungary had been obvious. Hungary is prepared to take countermeasures if possible, he added.

Gulyás also indicated that the National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition (OGYEI) is conducting a probe into the quality of imported Ukrainian agricultural products.

“We are being cheated,” he said. “When the EU talks about joint solidarity with Ukraine, it would be good if this did not mean ruining the wheat market of some countries with cheap Ukrainian products. Countries experiencing real deprivation should benefit, or Europe should shoulder the burden of this together,” he said.