Visegrád Four

Visegrád group preparing for its largest-ever rail project, says Hungarian FM

The high-speed railway to connect Budapest, Bratislava, Ostrava and Warsaw will be one of the most ambitious projects the Visegrád Four countries have ever launched, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, said after talks with Vazil Hudak, vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), in Budapest on Thursday.

The feasibility study is already in the pipeline, with the four countries expecting the EIB to part-finance the project, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Both sides expressed pleasure over the recent establishment of an EIB V4 platform.

Szijjártó assured Hudak that Hungary would continue to support the EIB’s lending operations in the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership countries.

March 7, 2019

Hungarian president highlights new security challenges facing NATO

Hungarian President János Áder on Thursday highlighted climate change, rising migration pressure and the increased threat of terrorism in Europe as some of the new security challenges faced by NATO.

Speaking to Hungarian public media after a meeting of the heads of state of the Bucharest Nine (B9) group in Kosice (Kassa) in eastern Slovakia, Áder said the B9 leaders agreed that they should spend more on counter-terrorism.

The presidents of the grouping comprising the Visegrád Group, the Baltic states, Bulgaria and Romania also agreed on the need to improve counter-terrorism information sharing and cooperation, Áder said.

The president also underlined the importance of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s declaration that instead of increasing bureaucracy, NATO should be focused on boosting its defence capabilities.

Áder said it was right to expect NATO member states to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defence.

Hungary has been behind in this respect, “but we’ve started to catch up”, he said, noting that Hungary has vowed to bring its defence spending up to the required level by no later than 2024.

The president said that about half of NATO’s member countries meet the alliance’s defence spending criterion.

He emphasised the importance of preserving NATO’s unity, along with the need for cohesion and solidarity.

Featured image: MTI

February 28, 2019

Foreign ministers confirm Hungarian-Slovak alliance

Hungary and Slovakia are not only neighbours but allies, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Monday after talks with Miroslav Lajcak, his Slovak counterpart.

“Over the past few years, both countries have worked hard to achieve this reality,” he told a joint press conference in Budapest.

Cooperation between the two countries on issues regarding the future of the European Union is robust, he said, adding that both Hungary and Slovakia have stood up to illegal migration and the introduction of mandatory resettlement quotas.

In the debates over the EU’s 2021-2027 financial cycle, both countries claim that central European nations have a right to EU cohesion funds under the EU treaties, he said.

Currently Slovakia holds the rolling presidency of the Visegrad Group, the closest and most effective alliance within the EU, he said. Despite repeated attempts to break this, cooperation remains close, and in the past few weeks alone V4 members have demonstrated their solidarity many times, he added.

Fast improving Hungary-Slovakia relations are beneficial to ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia and also to ethnic Slovaks in Hungary.

Bilateral trade exceeded 10 billion euros last year and Slovakia is Hungary’s third most important trading partner, Szijjártó said. An economic development programme for southern Slovakia, which is inhabited by many ethnic Hungarians, will be continued and transport links are being developed, with a new public road bridge in Komarom and a high-speed road link in Rajka to be opened next year, he added. Three new bridges will be built across the River Ipoly with the help of EU funding, and the relaunch of two discontinued railway links is being planned, he said.

An honorary consulate will be opened in Nitra (Nyitra) and a vice-consulate in Banska Bystrica (Besztercebánya), also demonstrating that Hungary considers bilateral relations as highly important, he said.

Szijjártó expressed thanks to the Slovak parliament for the declarations they issued in protection of Hungary and Poland against procedures by Brussels, and for legislation stipulating signs to be displayed in Hungarian as well as Slovak at minor railway stations.

Lajcak said

it was “a point of pride” for the Slovak government that ties with Hungary “have never been as good as they are today”.

There are no taboos in bilateral dialogue, which is beneficial both for citizens and for economic cooperation, he said.

In response to a question, Szijjártó said “we have an ongoing dispute with Jean-Claude Juncker”, the president of the European Commission, but this is not a new development. Juncker is “implementing the Soros plan” for migration, and the commission has done everything in its power to introduce quotas and exercise pressure on sovereign states to become immigrant countries, he added. US billionaire George Soros and Juncker openly talk about these efforts and “we do the same … not leaving the attacks unmentioned”, Szijjártó said.

February 25, 2019

Orbán: Hungary to open trade representation in Jerusalem

The Hungarian government will open a foreign trade representation in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Tuesday, adding that the move is “another step towards building closer Hungary-Israel ties”.

After talks with Benjamin Netanyahu, Orbán told a joint press conference that he had briefed his Israeli counterpart about the upcoming European parliamentary elections, “an important goal of which will be to rein in anti-Semitism in Europe”. He said that after the elections, new European leaders should emerge “who don’t finance NGOs that meddle in political affairs and promote an anti-Israel position”.

Concerning Poland’s boycott of the Visegrad Group-Israel summit, Orbán said that “it would have been better had everybody turned up”. “It’s always better to be together than have someone missing.”

He noted close cooperation between Hungary and Poland, and expressed hope that

“Poland and Israel will discuss and resolve the situation”.

Concerning bilateral ties with Israel, Orbán said the two countries promoted shared positions in several international organisations, including the United Nations.

Hungary supports local Jewish communities and the upcoming Maccabi Games in Budapest “will hopefully be the best so far”, he added.

Touching on business relations, the prime minister said that Israel’s 210 companies active in Hungary “are a strong presence”, adding that both countries seek to increase cooperation in innovative technologies.

Orbán noted that

Hungary and Israel is celebrating the 30th anniversary of re-establishing diplomatic relations, and said that Netanyahu had been instrumental in reviving cooperation between his country and central Europe.

Netanyahu noted shared aspects of the history of the two countries. Both countries, he added, seek to build a future based on peace, freedom and prosperity, which he called “a strong bilateral bond”.

Referring to the significance of cooperation in the fight against terrorism, he said that Hungary and Israel together fought extremist Islam.

He mentioned defence, research, science, and environment protection as further areas of cooperation.

Netanyahu thanked Hungary for its support in international organisations and said that the opening of the new representation was an important gesture.

February 19, 2019

Polish PM cancels Israel trip after Netanyahu’s Holocaust – Visegrad Group in Israel

Israel offered to host the meeting of the Visegrad group to strengthen ties with members of the European Union.

The Unian news agency said, Poland Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has canceled a trip to Israel following comments on the Holocaust by Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr Netanyahu was quoted in Israeli media as saying “Poles co-operated with the Germans” during the Holocaust, according to the BBC.

He later issued a clarification saying he was not referring to the Polish nation or all Polish people. Poland summoned the Israeli ambassador and on Sunday said Mr Morawiecki would not attend a summit on Tuesday. It “is a signal that the historical truth is a fundamental issue for Poland, and the defense of the good name of Poland is and always will be decisive,” Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek explained, according to the Voice of America.

The meeting, hosted by Israel, is of the Visegrad Group that represents the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

Polish government spokesperson Joanna Kopcinska said: “Prime Minister Morawiecki told Prime Minister Netanyahu in a telephone call that Poland will be represented at the summit by Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.” Israel offered to host the meeting of the Visegrad group to strengthen ties with members of the European Union. In terms of the Holocaust, the country has for years objected to the term “Polish death camps”, saying it implies complicity in the Nazi camps built on its soil during occupation.

In February 2018, Poland introduced a controversial law making it illegal to accuse the Polish nation or state of complicity in the Nazi Holocaust. Israel challenged the legislation, its president, Reuven Rivlin, last year saying that while many Poles had fought the Nazis, “Poland and Poles had a hand in the extermination” of Jews during the Holocaust. Poland agreed to change the law and it now no longer carries the threat of up to three years in jail.

February 18, 2019

Visegrad Group prime ministers and German Chancellor Merkel held meeting in Slovakia

meeting of Visegrad Group prime ministers and German Chancellor Angela Merkel

No major decisions should be made before the European parliamentary elections “when European citizens will make their choice”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at a meeting of Visegrad Group prime ministers and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday.

Cooperation between the Visegrad Four and Germany must continue after the EP elections in May, Orbán told the press after the summit. The talks were characterised by “a positive and sincere tone,” he added.

Orbán said participants in the meeting had been the EU’s “core states”, countries that “stand out with their performance”.

Based on their public debt, budget deficit, exports, unemployment rate and structural reforms, they constitute Europe’s core states and, complemented by Germany, the economic engine of Europe, Orbán said. Participants in the meeting agreed on the need for a strong Europe and pledged to cooperate to that end, the prime minister added.

The European Union “will not be the same as it was before” once the elections have taken place, he said. Orbán insisted that “we want a democratic EU” and added that “its character and directions will be decided upon by the people”.

“We can discuss whether democracy should be liberal, illiberal or Christian, but the people cannot be omitted from its formula,” Orbán said, and argued that “should we neglect the will of European citizens, we would not be building a European Union but an empire and would go back to where we started off 30 years ago when we revolted against having to act on instructions from that empire’s headquarters.”

Answering a question, Orbán said that

“EU members have different positions on the world and it was mostly migration that brought those differences to the surface”. “But it is good,” he added, “because variety is an asset for the EU”.

To another question, Orbán said that “80 percent of the EU funds Hungary receives will go back to those countries where they come from, therefore we cannot accept any reprisals”. He went on to say that European bids were open to any European business.

Orbán said that he would meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for talks in Budapest on Monday, with “military and security issues on the agenda” with special regard to Ukraine. He said Ukraine was an “important neighbour” but added that “Hungary’s position is causing difficulties in cooperation between Ukraine and NATO”. He also said that “while Hungary has a pro-Ukraine government, the Ukrainian government is anti-Hungarian, which generates conflicts.”

February 7, 2019

LMP: Hungary’s foreign policy gets isolated

Budapest parliament winter Hungarian flag

The confrontational foreign policy pursued by Hungary’s government has isolated the country, a board member of the opposition LMP party said on Wednesday.

The government’s approach to European affairs is “theatrical but non-transparent”, János Kendernay told a press conference in Budapest.

Kendernay, a prospective candidate of the party for the European parliamentary elections, said the government should cooperate more constructively with its European partners.

He accused the government of its failure to take steps to prevent the looming “economic catastrophe” Brexit may bring about, and to fulfil its constitutional obligation to protect Hungarian citizens living in the UK.

Poland, one of the government’s closest allies, has entered into an alliance with Italy, of which Hungary “was spectacularly left out”. The other two Visegrad countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, are seeking cooperation with Austria, he said.

Hungary’s continued confrontations with its partners were a factor in the agreement Germany and France have reached recently, and the country is consistently overlooked in decisions regarding the Western Balkans, the LMP politician said.

Kendernay said

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was right in saying that a new world order is being born. That order, however, will be based on knowledge rather than labour as Orbán claims, he said.

Photo: Alpár Kató – Daily News Hungary ©

January 31, 2019

Government to ‘fight to the end’ for rights of Hungarians working in Austria

Hungary’s government will “fight to the end” for the rights of Hungarians working in Austria, as it is convinced that Austria’s decision to cut family benefits for foreigners working in the country violates EU laws, a government official said on Friday.

Speaking to MTI, Katalin Novák, the state secretary for youth and family affairs, noted that the European Commission has launched an infringement procedure against Austria over the issue of benefits for family members of workers posted abroad.

On January 1, Austria cut family benefits paid for foreigners working in the country to the price levels of the country of residence of the child.

Novák said the decision would hurt Hungarian citizens the most, because it is mostly they who have children in Hungary. As an example, she said that if a Hungarian citizen lives along the border with Austria and travels there for work on a daily basis and pays taxes and contributions there, with their family staying at home in Hungary, they will now only be eligible for 60 percent of the benefits they received in the past.

This affects some 40,000 Hungarian children, Novák pointed out.

She said the Hungarian government has taken the firmest possible stance against this measure at the European Union level and has also addressed it among its Visegrád Group partners. The state secretary noted that in November, the V4 together with Bulgaria, Slovenia and Lithuania asked Marianne Thyssen, the EU commissioner for employment and social affairs, to address the issue.

Novák said the commissioner signalled in December that the EC would look into Austria’s measure. Earlier this month, Hungarian Justice Minister László Trocsányi called for an infringement procedure against Austria, which the commission has already launched, she noted.

January 26, 2019

Government official: Hungary won’t become ‘immigrant country’

Hungary has again made it clear that it does not want to become a country of immigrants and insists that the direction of the European Union’s future migration policy should be decided by its citizens in the upcoming European parliamentary elections, a senior government official said in Brussels on Tuesday.

In the ballot in May, voters will get to have their say on whether “pro-migration forces should become stronger or weaker”, Szabolcs Takács, state secretary for EU affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office, told Hungarian journalists after a meeting of EU affairs ministers.

The Hungarian government faces “attacks” not only from its own opposition, but also from pro-migration countries and politicians across Europe for its firm stance on rejecting migration, Takács said.

He said it was not by accident that Dutch Green MEP Judith Sargentini was also scheduled to participate in a demonstration against the Hungarian government organised by the Hungarian opposition in Brussels on Tuesday afternoon.

Takács called a planned reduction of cohesion and agricultural funding in the EU’s 2021-2027 funding cycle a “disproportionate” measure under a “discriminative” approach, insisting that it aimed “to punish” countries unwilling to cooperate on Brussels’s migration policy.

In connection with the EU’s rotating presidency which Romania took over in January for six months, Takács said Hungary’s expectation was that it should give ample consideration to the stance and interests of Hungary and the Visegrád Four grouping.

“Hungary will support the Romanian presidency’s every effort to make the EU more secure and competitive,” he said.

January 9, 2019

Commission preparing beatification of János Esterházy sworn in

The commission of Hungarian, Slovak, Polish and Czech historians preparing the beatification process of János Esterházy, a leader of Slovakia’s ethnic Hungarian community between the two world wars, was officially sworn in in Krakow on Monday, a government official has said.

Count Esterházy (1901-1957), the sole Hungarian deputy in the Slovak Parliament before 1945, was a firm advocate of the ethnic Hungarian community, raising his voice against any violation of minority rights and against discrimination.

Monday’s ceremony was attended by Archbishop of Krakow Marek Jedraszewski and Polish minorite monk Pawel Cebula, the postulator of Esterházy’s beatification, who currently serves in Eger, in northern Hungary, said state secretary for church, minority and civil society relations Miklós Soltész.

The commission’s task will be to study and assess the life and virtues of Esterházy. The Vatican gave the green light to the beatification process last November.

Once Esterhazy’s life is also reviewed by a theological commission, it will be that body’s job to submit a recommendation for beatification to the Vatican, Soltész said.

Featured image: Wiki Commons by Taz

January 8, 2019

Orbán holds talks with Bolsonaro

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held bilateral talks with new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during his working visit to Brazil on Wednesday, Orban’s press chief said.

The two leaders discussed opportunities for international, economic and political cooperation between their countries, Bertalan Havasi told MTI.

At the talks, Orbán confirmed an invitation to Bolsonaro for a visit to Hungary, which the Brazilian president accepted.

Orbán on Tuesday attended Bolsonaro’s inauguration.

Regarding another topic, an upcoming Israel-Visegrád Group summit to be held in Jerusalem in early 2019 was on the agenda of talks between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu held in Brasilia, the head of the prime minister’s office said late on Tuesday.

The two prime ministers reviewed current issues in Hungary-Israel relations, Bertalan Havasi said.

They agreed to tighten cooperation in security policy and defence between Hungary and Israel in the upcoming period, he added.

Featured image: MTI

January 2, 2019

Number of suicides down 35 pc since 2010, says Hungarian government

The number of suicides has fallen by 35 percent in Hungary since 2010, state secretary of the ministry of human resources Bence Rétvári told MTI.

Rétvári attributed this partly to the development of the health care system, which has become more efficient at recognising and managing high-risk cases, and partly to economic recovery, which reduces the number of people facing hopelessness.

More than 2,490 people took their own lives in 2010,Rétvári said, but this figure fell to just over 1,630 in 2017.

The biggest fall took place among people aged between 40 and 49 years, which classifies as outstanding by international standards as well, he added.

Rétvári said the pace of decrease well exceeds both the average of OECD states and that of the Visegrad Four countries.

With the economic recovery that started in 2010, growing employment, rising wages and the improving financial position of families, Hungarians now have a better outlook for the future, which has a positive impact on the number of suicides, the state secretary said.

This is also shown by the fact that according to figures from Eurostat, the ratio of those at risk of poverty or social exclusion has fallen significantly in all types of households compared to 2010,Rétvári said, noting that greater financial and social security also helps prevent situations leading to suicide.

THE HUNGARIAN ‘SUICIDE SONG’: GLOOMY SUNDAY

Many say that Hungarian folk songs are more melancholic and even sometimes sadder than the similar songs of other nations. Even though I do not share this opinion there was a song which was associated with 19 deaths and therefore, e.g. BBC banned its broadcast. This song is Rezső Seres’s Gloomy Sunday, the most well-known Hungarian song in the world, read more HERE.

December 17, 2018

Majority in V4 countries rejects migration – SURVEY

Some 35 million of the 53 million citizens in the Visegrad Group reject the EU’s quota system to resettle migrants in member states, and 41 million are dissatisfied with EU migration policy, a poll conducted by the Hungarian Nézőpont Institute showed.

The survey, conducted between October 16 and 30 by phone, on a sample of 1,000 people in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary each, reflected support for the V4’s migration policy, and confidence in the group during negotiations on the humanitarian visa in the EP and the Global Migration Compact in the UN, the pollster said.

Regarding resettlement quotas for asylum seekers within the EU, 78 percent of Hungarians, 68 percent of Poles, 80 percent of Slovaks and 83 percent of Czechs rejected the proposal, the survey showed.

The EU’s migration policy was rejected by 75 percent of Poles, 76 percent of Hungarians, 77 percent of Czechs and 79 percent of Slovaks.

A record 85 percent of Hungarians approve of the border fence erected on the country’s southern border in answer to the 2015 migration crisis. Fully 52 percent of Polish respondents, 71 percent of Czechs and 72 percent of Slovaks agree with Hungary’s way of handling the migration crisis, the pollster said.

December 13, 2018

EU to launch probe into Austrian family benefits thanks to joint action by V4 countries

Due to a joint action by the Visegrád Four member states, the European Union will launch a probe into rules adopted by Austria reducing family allowances to children of non-Austrian EU workers, the state secretary for family and youth affairs at the ministry of human resources told MTI on Sunday.

“The V4 countries have taken a successful joint action against Austria’s decision to reduce family benefits to children of EU citizens working in Austria, including Hungarian workers, from January 1,” Katalin Novák said.

After the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia as well as Lithuania, Slovenia and Bulgaria called on the European Commission to take the necessary measures, EC Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Mobility Marianne Thyssen indicated that the EC would launch a probe into the Austrian decision’s compatibility with EU law.

Austria is going to lower family benefits to EU workers employed in Austria on their children not living in the country from January 1, 2019.

According to the position of the V4 countries as well as Lithuania, Slovenia and Bulgaria, the decision severely infringes EU law, the principles of equal treatment and coordination in social security, and constitutes unjustified discrimination as the foreign workers pay the same taxes and contributions as Austrian citizens.

In her reply to Novák, Marianne Thyssen said that based on the principle of free movement, the EC is convinced that all EU citizens are entitled to the same rights, and nobody should be discriminated against in terms of child benefits either.

Novák said the indexation of Austrian family benefits concerns Hungarian families the most, affecting almost 40,000 children.

Supporting families raising children is of key important for the Hungarian government and it will do its best to ensure them full access to their rights and allowances. The government looks optimistically to the probe that the EC will soon launch and trusts that it will stand up for the rights of Hungarian families, she said.

December 3, 2018

V4 planning to support Tunisia border defence, says Hungarian foreign minister in Prague

Visegrad Group countries will help Tunisia beef up controls of its border, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told MTI on Friday.

Szijjártó said he had phoned his Tunisian counterpart Khemaies Jhinaoui after V4 foreign ministers in Prague agreed to set up an assistance programme for North African countries aimed at developing border control capacities with a view to withstanding illegal migration.

Szijjártó said the group was considering cooperation opportunities with Morocco and Tunisia, which have “done a lot so far to maintain their stability, thus contributing to Europe’s security”.

“Europe’s security starts in North Africa,” he added.

Preventing further migration waves is crucial to maintaining European security, Szijjártó said, adding that “Tunisia has been a reliable partner in that sense”.

Szijjarto: Hungarian-Czech economic cooperation at new level

Economic cooperation between Hungary and the Czech Republic “has reached a new level” over the recent period, the foreign affairs and trade minister said in Prague.

Based on the currently available data, the volume of trade between the two countries will be close to ten billion euros by the end of the year, Szijjártó told public media. This clearly demonstrates “the new dimension” of bilateral ties, he added.

There have been a number of Hungarian businesses that have had success on the Czech market, the minister said. Hungarian oil and gas company MOL, for example, operates 306 petrol stations in the country and has become the number two oil and gas company in the Czech Republic, he said.

The Czech Republic is also MOL’s second biggest market,

Szijjártó added.

Drugmakers Gedeon Richter and Egis also have leading products on the Czech pharmaceutical market, while Czech conglomerate Agrofert has acquired stakes in Hungarian baked goods, agricultural and food companies, he said.

Szijjártó noted that earlier this year, the PPF Group agreed to buy the assets of Telenor Hungary and that Czech carmaker Skoda won a contract to supply Budapest with 21 trolleybuses.

On another subject, the minister said bilateral defence cooperation had also entered “a new dimension”, noting that Hungary has bought two trainer and two reconnaissance aircraft from the Czech Republic. In addition, Hungarian air cadets are being trained by Czech instructors, he said.

Hungary has purchased licences from the Czech Republic for the production of firearms, he added.

The two countries are cooperating in the development of a high-speed rail network connecting the capitals of the Visegrad Group countries, Szijjártó said. The feasibility study will be finalised by 2020, and the V4 have put together a four-party working group for the project, he said.

Hungary and the Czech Republic are also collaborating in the field of nuclear energy, Szijjártó said, adding that there are five Czech companies involved in the operation of Hungary’s nuclear power plant in Paks.

December 1, 2018

Orbán’s cabinet: V4 uniqueness could benefit Europe

The Visegrád Group “has its own voice” on a variety of issues, including immigration, and this could serve to strengthen rather than to divide Europe, the state secretary for international communications said in Warsaw on Monday.

Addressing a press event at the Hungarian embassy, Zoltán Kovács said that over the course of their unique history, central European countries had developed a distinctive voice and the differences between central and western Europe, he added, could help strengthen the continent.

“Our perspective is just as relevant as anyone else’s, be that southern or northern Europe,” Kovács said. “We have capabilities that should be represented.”

Asked by MTI on what issues the V4 will be looking to speak as one in the run-up to next May’s European parliamentary elections, Kovács said: “Voters in all member states will most certainly be focusing on the issue of migration.”

The V4 should consider how they can have their voices better heard in the EP, too, he added.

Kovács highlighted the region’s economic strength, saying that trade turnover between the V4 and Germany was 50 percent more than Germany’s trade volume with France.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/V4

November 27, 2018

V4 can play big role in EU reforms, says Hungarian house speaker

The Visegrad Group – Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia – can play a decisive role in European Union reforms, House Speaker László Kövér said on Saturday, fielding questions from Polish and Hungarian students at a talk with his Polish counterpart, Marek Kuchcinski, in Krasiczyn, southeast Poland.

Respect for the V4 countries is growing, in part because “time has proved right” our stand on the issue of migration, House speaker Kövér told the students participating at a four-day free university organised by the Waclaw Felczak Polish-Hungarian Cooperation Institute.

He stressed the importance of solidarity among the V4 countries and said the debate over the next EU budget is another opportunity to establish a joint platform.

The recent pace of economic growth in the V4 countries is grounds for them to play a decisive role in the restructuring and reform of the EU, he said.

Kuchcinski also acknowledged the importance of the V4 countries sticking together. “There is no better way,” he said.

About 150 Hungarian and Polish university students participated at the free university.

November 25, 2018

Hungary, Poland linked with ‘unconditional’ friendship, says Hungarian foreign minister

Hungary and Poland are not only strategic partners but they are also linked with a “true friendship”; the two countries can rely on one another unconditionally, the Hungarian foreign minister told Polish news channel wpolsce.pl in an interview today.

The two countries have mutually pledged support concerning the European Union’s Article 7 procedures, Péter Szijjártó said.

“As we expect further attacks to be directed at Hungary by the EU, it is vitally important for us to know that we can count on one another under all circumstances”, Szijjártó said in terms of bilateral relations.

The Article 7 procedures have been launched against the two countries primarily in response to the migration policy of the Visegrad group countries that include Hungary and Poland, Szijjártó said.

Another reason is the “successful economic policy of Hungary and Poland that goes against the mainstream economic policies”, Szijjártó said.

Hungary and Poland are governed by strong leaders and are politically and economically stable countries, Szijjártó said, adding that “this is something not favoured that much in Brussels”.

Asked about Russia’s energy policy and Hungary’s stance, Szijjarto responded that “we have a rather pragmatic relationship with Russia” and rejected allegations that Hungary would be a primary partner for Moscow.

“It is clear that 85 percent of our natural gas imports comes from Russia” which Szijjártó said was “a matter of infrastructure”.

Concerning diversification of supplies, Szijjártó said Hungary’ situation would be easier “if either the United States or the European Union spent millions of dollars or euros on infrastructure development projects” in central Europe.

It would further help Hungary if Croatia concluded the construction of a liquid natural gas terminal at the Adriatic Sea and Romania gave way to gas exploration projects at the Black Sea, he added.

Photo: MTI

October 25, 2018