“We greatly respect the Republika Srpska and its leaders”, says Hungarian FM Szijjártó
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Hungary, as a neighbour of the Western Balkans, has a vested interest in peace and stability in the region, and contributes to its development via economic development programmes, the foreign minister said on Thursday. “We greatly respect the Republika Srpska and its leaders”, FM Szijjártó added.
Great respect towards Republika Srpska
The ministry cited Péter Szijjártó telling a joint press conference after talks with Zeljko Budimir, the minister in charge of science and higher education in Republika Srpska, that the inauguration of US President Donald Trump a few days ago had launched a new era in world politics. “From now on, values such as patriotism, respect for national sovereignty, efforts towards peace, recognising the threat of illegal migration and therefore stopping it, respect for family, and accepting the simple truth that people are born either man or woman will determine world politics,” he said.
“We are in an easy situation in respect of Republika Srpska and Hungary because we have already pursued these principles and our cooperation is based precisely on these principles and these values,” he added. “We are pursuing a responsible neighbourhood policy, and it is an important principle that we respect the will of the peoples of the Western Balkans, which we demonstrate by respecting the leaders they elected,” he added.
“We greatly respect the Republika Srpska and its leaders. We consider attempts to pressure Republika Srpska from Brussels and during the failed Democrats administration from Washington shameful and anti-democratic. These attempts question the will of the people of Republika Srpska,” he said. Szijjarto noted that the Hungarian government contributes to the development of the Western Balkans with economic development schemes, and one of the most successful schemes was in Republika Srpska, where some 1,782 local agricultural businesses have received grants to procure equipment.
He added that thanks to the total support of around 10 billion forints, the affected companies managed to buy equipment worth around 16 billion forints from Hungarian companies, and the scheme would be continued. “It is also a central part of our responsible neighbourhood policy to respect the fact that the European Union now needs the Western Balkans more than the Western Balkans need EU membership,” he said. “It is high time they understand in Brussels that European integration should not necessarily paired with lecturing and preaching,” he added.
Well with protests going on across the country in Serbia against government corruption it seems that the people of Serbia don’t share the same respect for the leadership that Szijjarto does. Serbian universities have been blockaded for two months, along with many schools. A lawyers’ association also has gone on strike but it remained unclear how many people stayed away from work in state-run institutions on Friday. Protests marches were held Friday in Belgrade, Novi Sad, the southern city of Nis and other smaller cities. You have similar protests going on in Slovakia as well against corrupt Russia allied Fico. It’s the same story in all three countries – corruption and Russian influence.
Larry, note that the article concerns Republika Srpska and not Serbia. The former is the autonomous ethnically Serbian region of Bosnia & Herzegovina led by a militant and nationalist provincial government.
The fact that this article does not mention that the ‘Republika Srpska’ is part of Bosnia and the main aggressor in the Bosnian war of the early/mid 1990s is…. about what I expect from Hungarian media….
Do better!
That’s funny that I made that mistake. Dodik’s Republika Srpska is even worse . It’s the land of genocide deniers.
“the land of genocide deniers”
No wonder Szijjarto likes them….