“NATO is in a state of war psychosis, which poses a serious risk of escalation,” Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Brussels on Thursday, adding that NATO should switch its strategy.

“All that was said in the meeting reflected that peace is needed as soon as possible; the situation on the battlefield clearly shows that the number of casualties and destruction will dramatically increase without a rapid diplomatic settlement,” the foreign ministry quoted Szijjártó as saying after a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council.

“Operations on the battlefield are clearly intensifying, with ever more serious consequences; all efforts should now focus on establishing peace in order to save lives and prevent further destruction,” the minister said. It was “bad news”, he added, that his position was “in minority within NATO”.

He quoted a participant in the meeting as saying that “the goal is not to achieve peace but to win the war.” “NATO is more or less characterised by that kind of war psychosis … most spoke today about how to increase weapons shipments to Ukraine,” he added.

Szijjártó said putting together such shipments was becoming more and more problematic, partly because many NATO member states “have already contributed nearly all the ammunitions in their reserves.” He noted that currently Hungary and the Czech Republic provide air policing in Slovakia because “Bratislava has given all their aircraft to Kyiv and they have not received new ones yet”.

It was also suggested that “warehouses should be emptied and all equipment handed over to Ukraine… Desperate remarks like that clearly show that mounting difficulties are an obstacle to arms shipments,” Szijjártó said. Those difficulties “are not just physical, not least because few weapons are left, but also because sending arms has proven futile in terms of the original goals,” he said.

“So far we have heard from the countries sending arms that those weapons would help Ukraine to battlefield victories … but this is not happening,” he said.

Hungary opposes boosting NATO’s coordination role in sending arms to Ukraine and training Ukrainian soldiers, “and will not participate in planning or in the activities themselves; neither will it contribute to financing,” Szijjártó said.

Szijjártó: NATO must strengthen counter-terrorism

NATO must strengthen its counter-terrorism activities with a view to ensuring unimpeded East-West trade, Szijjártó said, adding that European economic interests depended on smooth trade.

“The challenge posed by global terrorism is becoming ever more serious,” he told a press conference after a meeting of the NATO Council of Foreign Ministers, adding that terrorism threatened global security and trade, as well as East-West relations.

Hungary, he said, did not want a world “divided into blocs again”, and East-West cooperation should be as dense as possible. But connections that are key for Hungary and the Hungarian economy “are seriously threatened by terrorism in the Red Sea”, he added.

Referring to Houthi rebels operating off the shores of Yemen, Szijjártó said the terrorist organisation must not be allowed to cause “serious economic problems” for European businesses “after the economic shocks caused by the coronavirus and the war in Ukraine”.

Noting that cooperation with the Pacific region was among the topics of discussions at the meeting with representatives from Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, he said Hungary maintained close economic cooperation with countries of the Far East. Investments from the region “contribute significantly to the growth of the Hungarian economy, so for us the smoothness of East-West trade is a key issue. So we stand for strengthening NATO’s counter-terrorism stance,” the minister concluded.

Szijjártó: Hungary-Ukraine education team ‘fails to bring positions closer’

The education working group set up by the Hungarian and Ukrainian governments “has met once again but failed to bring positions closer,” the foreign minister said on Thursday, adding that Hungary “insists that the rights Ukraine’s Hungarian minority should be fully restored.”

Speaking at a press conference after a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, Szijjártó said “the serious issue with Kyiv concerning the rights of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia is still unresolved.”

“We insist that Ukraine restore rights to the Hungarian community that they had nine years ago, guaranteeing … the preservation of their Hungarian identity,” Szijjártó said, adding that they should be able use their mother tongue in educational and cultural settings, as well as in public administration and the media.

“We cannot accept less. Our Ukrainian partners are aware of that, even if they sometimes pretend not to be,” Szijjártó said, adding that the Hungarian government had consistently promoted its position in the past nine years.

The minister said it was “good news”, however, that the Hungary-Ukraine working group will resume meeting next week, with leaders of the two sides also meeting personally, which could “hopefully bring us closer to the reversal of the curbing of those rights… For now it still seems far away, but the fact of talks being held at all should be considered good news.”

The minister said that when NATO evaluates Ukraine’s progress, Hungary would “pay great attention to these aspects”. “When evaluating Ukraine’s performance we cannot overlook the fact that the Hungarian ethnic community in Transcarpathia has not yet been granted the rights it was earlier stripped of… Our allies must be aware of that. Hungary will insist at every international forum that the Trancarpathian community gets those rights back,” he said.

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said protests and blockades staged by Polish farmers had rendered trade across the Ukraine-Poland border “practically impossible”, resulting in “pressure greater than ever” on Hungary’s border with Ukraine.

“This creates unfair conditions: trucks leaving Ukraine often have to wait 14-16 days before crossing, which poses a serious … difficulties for the Hungarian economy, as many Hungarian companies are dependent on trade between Hungary and Ukraine,” he said, calling for a reducion of waiting times. “I want to firmly state that [Hungary] is not importing agricultural produce; Hungary is maintaining its ban on Ukrainian grain … since protecting the interests of Hungarian farmers is a priority,” he said.

Hungary’s ambassador to Ukraine will sign an agreement next Monday on opening a new crossing station between Nagyhodos in Hungary and Velyka Palad (Nagypalad) in Ukraine, Szijjártó said, adding that local Hungarians in Ukraine had a long-standing request for such a facility. Moreover, unloaded trucks will be given an opportunity to cross at Beregsurany, which will “reduce the problems of Hungarian companies relying on imports from Ukraine,” he added.

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