Orbán criticises Brussels together with the president of the Austrian Freedom Party

In this photo, PM Viktor Orbán, President of Fidesz receives Herbert Kickl, President of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), leader of the Austrian parliamentary group, at the Carmelite Monastery on 9 March 2023. Source: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán discussed the war in Ukraine, related sanctions, inflation and illegal migration with Herbert Kickl, head of Austria’s Freedom Party (FPO), in Budapest on Thursday, Orbán’s press chief said.

Orbán and Kickl were in agreement about the risk of the escalation of the war and the need to call for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks at all possible forums, Bertalan Havasi said.

They also were in agreement that as a result of sanctions imposed by Brussels prices have increased at an unprecedented rate in Europe and concluded that once peace is restored, sanctions could be lifted and prices would go down.

Orbán and Kickl welcomed cooperation between their countries in the fight against illegal migration. They said the European Commission must be called on to take effective measures for the protection of the EU’s external borders and contribute to the costs of fences erected by member states.

Read also: Hungarian minister: Get ready for a prolonged war, gas power plants to be built in Hungary

Szijjártó: Cooperation with Baden-Wuerttemberg crucial for Hungary-Germany ties

“Excellent cooperation with Baden-Wuerttemberg is an important basis for the ties between Hungary and Germany,” the minister of foreign affairs and trade said in Stuttgart on Thursday.

The foreign ministry quoted Péter Szijjártó as saying that those ties “highly contribute to keeping the Hungarian economy on a growth path”. Szijjártó said bilateral relations with Germany “are currently not simple”, but added that Baden-Wuerttemberg “has a special place in our heart” with special regard to such investments projects as implemented by Germany’s Bosch and Mercedes-Benz companies.

“They have helped us save jobs in Hungary, keep the economy on a growth path and avoid recession,” he said. Baden-Wuerttemberg is also the primary destination of Hungarian exports to Germany, the minister added.

Szijjártó called Baden-Wuerttemberg’s Christian Democrats “good friends with whom we see eye to eye in many respects”. “We agree that the external borders of the European Union must be firmly and successfully protected, we agree that Europe’s security must be maintained and … measures reducing Europe’s competitiveness must not be taken,” he said. Europe must again be made a dominant continent in the global economy, he added.

During his visit to Stuttgart, Szijjártó met the justice minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg, the local group leader of the Christian Democratic Union, as well as the chief advisor to the province’s minister-president and a board member of Mercedes-Benz.