Foreign minister Szijjártó hails post-Brexit Hungary-UK cooperation

Hungary and the United Kingdom have laid the foundations of cooperation based on mutual respect following the UK’s exit from the European Union, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in London on Tuesday.

Europe is in a critical period, facing serious challenges, the foreign ministry cited Szijjártó as saying at the inauguration of the Hungarian consulate’s new building.

“We receive a lot of bad news and face many challenges each day,” Szijjártó said. “This situation makes friendships, predictable relationships and stable partnerships like that of the United Kingdom and Hungary all the more valuable.”

Szijjártó said that “in the spirit of mutual respect”, Hungary “was perhaps the only EU member state” that had not commented on or labelled the outcome of the Brexit referendum. “We didn’t compete with others in saying how bad a decision the British people had made,” he said. “We simply left it to the British people to decide on their own future.”

Turning to economic relations, Szijjártó said

British businesses made up the sixth-largest investor community in Hungary, with more than 800 companies employing some 55,000 people.

Many of them proved their loyalty during the pandemic by deciding to invest in their local bases rather than cut production, he added.