PM Orbán for deepening Hungarian-Serbian friendship – UPDATED

Serbs can only be successful by working together with Hungarians and vice versa, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview to Serbian news agency Tanjug.

He said in the interview published on Friday that Hungary, a Christian, Catholic country, had succeeded building “fruitful” relations with Serbia, noting issues on which they could work to the countries’ mutual benefit, such as the European integration of Serbia, the situation in Kosovo, the Hungarian national minority in Vojvodina and Hungary’s position in the European Union.

Orbán said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had taken a “bigger risk” by committing to good relations between Hungarians and Serbs because there was a larger ethnic Hungarian community in Serbia than the Serb community in Hungary. He said the large Hungarian community in Vojvodina posed a significant legal, intellectual and political challenge because it meant having to find a way to coexist with the national minorities of a neighbouring country.

He said this was not an easy matter, noting there were very few positive responses to this challenge throughout Europe. He praised Vucic for having managed to find an answer with “very modern … European, but at the same time, Christian foundations to this question”. Orbán said Vucic considered Hungarians a community that contributed to Serbia’s success, rather than a burden, challenge or danger.

Orbán said this approach had proven successful, and today, all Serbs — “even the extremist nationalist Serbs” — saw that it works.

He said Hungarians had contributed significantly to the two countries’ shared success, adding that there was no reason to attack Hungarians or to “play the anti-Hungarian card in Serbia’s domestic politics”.

Minorities needed for good cooperation

The prime minister said it was important that it was the Serbs and the ethnic Hungarians in Vojvodina who first started cooperating, arguing that they knew each other well and had understood the advantages of good cooperation. The Serbs and Hungarians living in Vojvodina, he added, had been the ones to prove that cooperation was better than animosity. Orbán said it would have been harder to establish the good relations between the two countries without the minorities.

As regards the European integration of the Western Balkan countries, Orbán said it was unfair that their accession talks with the European Union had been going on for years, while Ukraine would suddenly start its own accession talks for political reasons. He said European leaders failed to understand the strategic importance of Serbia and the Western Balkans, adding he considered it his mission to help the EU understand the significance of Serbia and the Balkans, “and what is at stake”.

Orbán said the problem was that the EU did not understand that it needed Serbia more than Serbia needed the EU, arguing that Serbia also had other options and more room for manoeuvre, and could choose the European or a different strategic path.

Minister: Strong Hungarian representation in Serbia important for Hungary-Serbia ties

Paying a visit to Zrenjanin (Nagybecskerek) in Serbia’s northernmost Vojvodina region, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office called strong representation of Vojvodina Hungarians on a national level important for maintaining good relations between Hungary and Serbia.

The Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (VMSZ) has always played an important role in building good relations between Hungary and Serbia as well as between Hungary and Vojvodina Hungarians, Gergely Gulyás told a local forum.

He welcomed that VMSZ’s local supporters had attended the forum in large numbers which he said illustrated that they were aware of the December 17 parliamentary elections’ importance for the Hungarian community.

Gulyás noted that in Hungary’s general election last spring, 68,000 Vojvodina Hungarians casting their ballots “contributed with their votes to the victory of the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance”.

Speaking about the pressure posed by illegal migration, Gulyás underscored Hungary’s efforts to stop illegal immigrants, calling for criticism on Serbia’s part of Brussels’ approach to the issue. “In Serbia, VMSZ has been the one that has spoken out against [Brussel’s stance on] migration and is regarded by the Hungarian government as a reliable partner on the matter,” he said.

Ukraine not ready

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had phone talks on Thursday with Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez. Noting serious differences between member states regarding Ukraine’s EU aspirations, Orbán told Sanchez that Hungary wanted the issue removed from the agenda of the European Council’s next meeting, arguing that integration talks would be “untimely” and would lack the requisite preparations, the PM’s press chief said in a statement.

Orbán stressed the importance of preserving European Union unity, the statement said, noting that Spain currently holds the rotating EU presidency, which Hungary will take up in the second half of 2024.

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