Orbán calls on EU to lift Belarus sanctions
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The time has come for the European Union to abolish its sanctions against Belarus, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Minsk on Friday, after talks with President Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Belarus participates in the EU’s Eastern Partnership programme, Orbán noted. “That partnership cannot be built through sanctions”, Orbán told a press conference held jointly with Lukashenko.
Economic cooperation between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union is in the interest of the European community, Orbán added.
Concerning Hungary-Belarus ties, Orbán said that “the two peoples and the two countries are much closer than one might think”.
Belarus plays a key role in Hungary’s energy security, Orbán said, noting that Hungary receives its oil imports via Belarus.
He said both countries rejected discrimination against nuclear energy, noting that Hungary was keeping an eye on a nuclear plant Belarus is building with technology similar to what is being used in the upgrade of Hungary’s Paks nuclear plant.
Orbán also said that Hungary’s Eximbank has opened a 40 million euro credit line to promote cooperation between Hungarian and Belarusian businesses. The prime minister noted that pharmaceutical products account for half of Hungary’s exports to Belarus. He added that Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air will soon launch a direct flight between the two countries.
The prime minister also noted that Hungary grants scholarships to 50 Belarusian students a year.
Concerning the situation in Ukraine, Orbán said the so-called Minsk peace process was the only hope for resolving the conflict.
Lukashenko referred to Hungary as Belarus’s closest partner in the EU, a country which “understands us more than any other”.
He said the talks showed that cooperation between the two countries was “on an upward trend”.
Relations between Belarus and the EU have become more pragmatic in recent years, Lukashenko said, underlining Hungary’s role in the development of those ties. “We remain open to a dialogue based on mutual respect and equal rights,” he said.
As regards Belarusian-Hungarian economic ties, Lukashenko highlighted the cooperation between Belarus, Hungary and Switzerland in the production of electric trains made by Swiss rolling stock maker Stadler.
As long as Belarus remains a one-man dictatorship with no freedom of press and with death penalty still in force, the EU has nothing to share with it.
Better relations with Lukashenko’s mafia-state? No, thank you.
In the end, Hungary will benefit from stupidity & pigheadedness demonstrated by its major opponents = the European Commission and ‘cartoon man’ (a.k.a. MARIO).
Responding to Mario’s comment above regarding the death penalty. There are some evil people in this world who commit heinous capital crimes that deserve capital punishment. Asking law abiding citizens to spend scarce resources to house people like this for life is an insult. A civilized society takes out the garbage.