New reality created by Trump’s second victory, Hungarian foreign minister says

The US presidential election is creating a completely new reality, not only in Europe but in the whole world, and old approaches are losing their validity and so must be discarded, the foreign minister said on Thursday.

The ministry cited Péter Szijjártó telling a press conference on the sidelines of the EPC summit that it was a welcome development that some “colourful” opinions had been presented at the opening meeting as against “the old cliches”.

“We heard opinions from the Turkic world, from the Western Balkans, Scandinavia, and also from a leading European member state,” he said.

The diversity of the positions presented was proof that Europe was at the crossroads, with a new situation emerging that could “change the rules of the game”, he said. The differences in opinion about the right way forward was “not a bad thing”, because it demonstrated the democratic character of the platform, he said.

Szijjártó said Europe’s current situation was “dangerous and difficult”. He added that for nearly 1,000 days, Hungary had been living in the direct vicinity of the war and Ukraine, paying its price while bearing no responsibility for the outbreak of the war in any way.

He expressed concern about the reformulation of blocs in the world, stating that Hungary stood to lose much as a result, as it had done during the Cold War.

The government instead has a vested interest in connectivity and international cooperation based on trust and respect, he said. “And this has nothing to do with ideology; it has nothing to do with any political theory, only with our experiences,” he added.

Szijjártó said that in the past few days a completely new reality had emerged in the world. “The result of the US presidential election creates a completely new reality, not only in Europe but in the world as a whole,” he added.

Strategic dialogue is needed, the foreign minister said

The minister also said that a domestic political crisis in Germany was another development suggesting that “nothing is as it used to be”.

“Old approaches don’t work anymore, so the old cliches must be discarded,” he added.

“Strategic dialogue is needed. And we hope that the meetings of the European Council starting tonight will serve as a platform for strategic dialogue instead of repeating old cliches, which I believe have lost validity as a result of the developments of recent days,” he said.

In response to a question, he said the outgoing US government had caused Hungary many difficulties such as the cancellation of a bilateral tax agreement and the amendment of visa waiver rules. Meanwhile the US ambassador was behaving as “a political activist and an opposition leader”, he said.

The government’s experience from the time of Trump’s presidency was completely different, he said, adding that hopes were now high in respect of his second term.

The personal ties and trust with the newly elected president “will definitely serve as a good basis for developing relations”, he added.

Szijjártó also expressed his belief that relations with China, similarly to all other bilateral relations, would not cause friction between Budapest and Washington.

He added that beyond the EU, Hungary’s two most important trade and investment partners were the US and China.

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