Hungarian FM: ‘Measures prolonging war’ harm Hungarian interests

Photo: MTI/AP/Virginia Mayo

Measures prolonging the war in Ukraine are against Hungary’s interests, and threaten to cause a world food crisis, Foreign Minister Péter Szijártó said on Monday.

Szijjártó told a press conference after a meeting of European Union foreign ministers that Ukraine and Russia are producing 30 percent of the world’s wheat and 80 percent of sunflower seeds exports. Ukraine’s wheat exports will slump by 25 million tonnes this year, he said. “Due to the war, some 400 million people will face food scarcity,” he said.

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Hungary has so far allowed 368,000 tonnes of grain across the country, and is working to raise capacity, he said.

“The longer the war drags on, the more people will have to face the food crisis and migration pressure will grow in Hungary and central Europe,” he said.

Hungary has so far spent 1.6 billion euros on accepting 843,688 refugees from Ukraine, and on stopping 118,786 illegal migrants at the southern border, he said. “We find it unfair and humiliating that Brussels has so far financed 2 percent of that amount,” he said.

Szijjártó also rejected the EU’s post-Cotonou Agreement on migration with 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific nations. “The last thing we need right now are more migrants arriving in Europe,” he said.