Hungarian foreign minister: the EU should contact President Bashar al-Assad

Lebanon is key to maintaining stability and avoiding escalation in the Middle East, and the EU and the international community should do everything in their power to keep it out of the war, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said after meeting with his Lebanese counterpart, Abdallah Bou Habib, in Budapest on Friday. He also said that the EU should contact Bassar al-Assad or his government to end the refugee crisis and restore security.

The war in Ukraine and the danger of the Middle Eastern conflict spreading to other countries are presenting grave challenges to Europe, Peter Szijjarto told a joint press conference.

“We know perfectly well that if the security crisis in the Middle East spreads to one more country, it won’t stop at its borders but widen into a regional or even greater war,” he said.

That would put Europe in a dire security situation, “those still hanging on to the reins would then lose all control,” he said.

Lebanon is a key ally in that fight, and Hungary is urging the EU to pay the 15 million euros earmarked for the country in the European Peace Facility. “We would finally spend the Peace Facility on peace,” he said.

He said he hoped that all parties would now adhere to bilateral and international decisions.

The 180,000 internally displaced people in southern Lebanon and northern Israel should be enabled to return home as soon as possible, he said.

Foreign minister Szijjártó: the EU should contact Bashar al-Assad or his government

Lebanon’s stability is also key to containing illegal migration, as it is currently housing more than 1.5 million refugees, he said. “Should Lebanon not take care of those people … they would almost certainly leave for Europe. And we all know the effect they would have on Europe’s stability and future.”

The world had left Lebanon to its own devices in dealing with the problem, which was “not fair”, he said, calling on the international community to ensure that those refugees return to Syria, certain areas of which had become much safer in recent years.

“We are calling for the EU to give up this section of its failed foreign policy. I have been a foreign minister for ten years, I have listened to various foreign ministers and high representatives … saying we should not contact the Syrian government or President Bashar al-Assad.”

Photo: Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

“In the past ten years, I have been the only one to stay [in power] in Europe, and President Assad is also there. So maybe we should review the strategy and start providing economic aid rather than setting conditions, so that security can be restored and refugees sent back to Syria,” he said.

Should the problem go unsolved, Lebanon’s stability would be at risk “and Europe would sooner or later have to pay the price”, he said.

Hungary will continue to maintain a contingent of 16 troops in the UN mission on the Israel-Lebanon border, he added.

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