Hungarian foreign affairs committee head meets Finnish counterpart

Mutual respect between Hungary and Finland has broadened, Zsolt Németh, head of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said after talks with his Finnish counterpart Kimmo Kiljunen in Budapest on Monday.

At the talks, the two officials agreed to establish regular talks between their committees, while the Finnish side invited Németh to visit Finland.

Topics on Monday’s talks included Finland’s NATO accession, Németh said, adding that the Finnish people’s support for their country’s neutral status had vanished “overnight” when the war in Ukraine broke out in February 2022. He added that the two parties agreed that Finland’s accession strengthens Finland’s and NATO’s security.

Németh and Kiljunen reviewed the situation in Ukraine, Németh said, adding that “Finland is extremely sensitive to Russia’s aggression”. He noted a difference between the two countries’ positions:

“Finland emphasizes continuing military aid to Ukraine.”

At the same time, Hungary’s position is that “there is no military solution” to the conflict, and the situation calls for an early ceasefire and diplomatic moves, Németh said.

Németh informed his Finnish guest about recent talks between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and former US President Donald Trump. As we wrote yesterday, Government officials said, Orbán, and Trump adhere to the same values, interests

Finland and Hungary have similar positions on migration, with Finland also stressing the importance of protecting the EU’s external borders and rejecting illegal migration, Németh said.

• read also: Orbán to Hungarian ambassadors: a new world order is emerging