Is this why Orbán did not go to Kiev with the Czech, Polish and Slovenian prime ministers?
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is not with his Czech, Polish and Slovenian counterparts in Kyiv for talks because Hungary is not supplying weapons to Ukraine, according to news site Origo.
The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia are travelling to Kyiv by train, and they are the first foreign leaders, who visit the Ukrainian capital since Russia invaded its neighbour last month.
The Hungarian government will not allow Hungary to be dragged into the war, and it is working to restore peace, the website said, noting that Hungary made clear from the outset of the war that it would not send soldiers or weapons to Ukraine; neither would it allow the transit of weapons across its territory.
Origo noted that after the Russians bombed a site near the Polish border, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said that even mentioning the transit of weapons carried serious risks.
Orbán has also made clear that weapons transfers would severely harm Hungarians in Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja), in western Ukraine, origo.hu noted.
Origo also denigrated opposition figures for urging the transfer of weapons to Ukraine.
Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, told MTI that
“we solely represent Hungary’s interests and our objective cannot be anything else but to ensure that Hungary stays out of this war”.
He said the reason why the Hungarian prime minister was not travelling with his Czech, Polish and Slovenian counterparts to Kyiv was that “to ensure the peace and security of Hungary it is necessary that the country should not send troops or weapons to the war and neither should it allow the transit of weapons across its territory to Ukraine”.
“We will respect it if other countries decide differently, but we must bear Hungary’s security interests in mind”, Szijjártó said.
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Ethnic Hungarian politician János Esterházy “symbol of CE cooperation”
János Esterházy, a leader of Slovakia’s ethnic Hungarian community between the two world wars, represents a link between Hungarians and neighbouring nations, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén said on Sunday.
Semjén told an event dedicated to the martyred politician in Parliament that he was a “symbol of central European cooperation and of the shared history” that the Visegrád Group cooperation currently tries to build.
Esterházy’s “deeply Christian dedication” and support for national values made him a “true compass in the storms and inhumanity of the 20th century”, Semjén said.
The Rákóczi Association and the Esterházy János Memorial Committee decorated Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, with the Esterházy award.
Read alsoCan you guess who are the five most famous Hungarians?
After thanking the award, Erdő said that Esterházy’s career demonstrated that promoting Christian values in public life was always possible but only “if we are ready to” accept martyrdom if necessary.
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.
Czechoslovak authorities arrested him in 1945 under the charge of war crimes and turned him over to the Soviet military authorities. In 1947 he was sentenced to 10 years of forced labour in Moscow and handed a death sentence in absentia in Bratislava on trumped-up charges.
Two years later, the Soviet Union extradited the ailing Esterházy to Czechoslovakia, where the president commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment. The count died in a prison in Mirov in March 1957.
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V4 Festival to offer over 50 music programmes in June in the Danube bend
The VéNégy Festival (Visegrád Four) and Theatre Meeting will offer over fifty music programmes on four stages in Nagymaros, in northern Hungary, on June 23-26, the organisers said on Wednesday.
The programme includes a mix of rock, pop, electronic, folk and acoustic productions and DJ sets in the town at the largest festival of the Danube Bend region, they said in a statement.
On the opening day the line-up includes Mork, hiperkarma, Beton Hofi, Ohnody and Bonilevine.
In a highlight event, Morcheeba will take the stage on June 25 after Carson Coma, Saya Noe and the Utazok. The festival’s closing day will feature Vad Fruttik, Russkaja, Irie Maffia, Platon Karataev, Konyha and the Elefant. Poland will be represented by Cheap Tobacco.
For programme details visit https://venegyfesztival.hu
Read alsoMarch 15: family programs, commemorations would start as early as Saturday
PM Orbán told Johnson whether Hungary would forward troops and weapons to Ukraine
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán made clear in London that Hungary will not send troops or weapons to Ukraine, nor will it allow transports of weapons to cross its territory “directly to the state attacked by Russia”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said late on Tuesday after attending talks alongside Orbán with Visegrád leaders and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
On returning to Budapest, he said the talks, including a bilateral meeting between Orbán and Johnson, had focused “exclusively on issues around the Ukraine war and security challenges resulting from the conflict”, and he dismissed “fake news” reports regarding the talks.
Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland are all interested in creating peace and providing assistance to Ukraine but “each is doing so in its own way”,
Szijjártó said. The other three Visegrad countries have decided to allow the transit of lethal aid, while the Hungarian government is helping Ukraine “by way of
the largest humanitarian operation in its history”,
the minister said, adding that this assistance was exclusively humanitarian. Hungary should not get mixed up in the conflict, he said, adding that the government’s first duty was to protect the Hungarian people.
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Also, the Hungarian government
“cannot support sanctions that could jeopardise the country’s energy supplies”,
Szijjártó said. Without gas from Russia, “there will be no heating” and industry would face serious difficulties, he said. Further, if the Paks nuclear upgrade project were halted, “public utility bills would increase fourfold”, he said.
Representatives of the government are scheduled to hold talks in Serbia on Wednesday, he said.
Read alsoTwo US military aircrafts flew over Hungary on Monday
V4 countries stands for stopping the war in Ukraine, says FM Szijjártó in London
The Visegrad Group stands for peace and stopping the war in Ukraine as soon as possible to ensure security in central Europe, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in London on Tuesday.
Szijjártó spoke ahead of a summit between the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.
The region is bearing the brunt of the humanitarian burden of the war, he noted.
Poland, Slovakia and Hungary have already received “a great many” refugees, some of whom have travelled on to the Czech Republic, among other countries, he said.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic has yet to end, as “many countries are still battling that challenge and lack the requisite vaccines”, Szijjártó said. Hungary is donating another 100,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine to Thailand to help raise the vaccination rate. With that shipment, Hungary’s vaccine donations to Thailand will have reached 500,000, he said.
In total, Hungary has so far donated 4.2 million doses to 17 countries, he said.
“Raising the vaccination rate worldwide will curb the risk of new variants, so we can leave at least that challenge behind us. Security challenges are plenty without a health-care and economic crisis before us, too,” he said.
Read alsoUkrainian refugees on Hungarian hospitality
Polish min at V4 meeting: “Warsaw perceives double standards, too”
The Polish government has also perceived the application of double standards within the European Union and rejected external attempts to exert political pressure on the country, the Polish minister of funds and regional policy said after a ministerial session of the V4 countries in Budapest on Friday.
The decisions of Brussels are often motivated by political considerations even in areas where such considerations have no place, Grzegorz Puda said. Some forces have aversion to see the pace of Hungary and Poland’s development and therefore tend to portray both countries in false colours before the western public, he added.
Hungarian-Polish cooperation may be conducive to important initiatives within the European Union, Poda said, adding that it is important for the two countries to represent values that the leaders of other member states do not dare to stand by.
Read alsoSenior V4 and French lawmakers discuss security policy in Budapest
Read alsoHungary’s Chief of Staff: V4 cooperation reliable in long term
Senior V4 and French lawmakers discuss security policy in Budapest
Parliamentary foreign affairs committee leaders of the four Visegrád countries held a two-day meeting with their French partners in Budapest and discussed security policy challenges in the east and the south, Zsolt Németh, the head of the Hungarian committee, said.
The meeting was attended by respective officials of both houses of the French parliament and the Visegrád Four (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia).
The participants focussed on major foreign policy issues in and outside Europe, Németh told a press conference, adding that the Hungary planned to invite the foreign affairs committee leaders of the Baltic states and Britain to similar meetings to be held under its current V4 presidency.
Németh welcomed that the Visegrád countries and France held identical views on several issues, including the need of security.
Although the security of Europe, including Hungary, is primarily guaranteed by NATO, “there are plenty of common European security interests which can be promoted more effectively if there is a European security and defence policy in place,” Németh said. He added that Hungary would “do its part” and raise the ratio of defence expenditure to 2 percent of GDP by 2024.
As the use of nuclear energy is crucial for Europe’s energy security and future, both the V4 countries and France advocate that nuclear energy should be declared a renewable, clean source of energy, he said.
The participants agreed to cooperate in boosting economic competitiveness, digitalisation and transition to green economy. They identified space research, an area with growing security policy importance, as a prospective field of cooperation, Németh said.
Concerning the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the foreign affairs committee leaders agreed on the need of resolute action to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and “within the framework of NATO a more marked representation of a policy of deterrence”, he said.
Nevertheless, maintaining dialogue is another priority, Németh said, referring to the recent visits to Moscow of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Another security policy issue discussed at the meeting in Budapest was the withdrawal of the Takuba mission from Mali, Németh said, expressing regret over the discontinuation of what he called a key mission in the Sahel region.
Read alsoGovt spox: “Hungary will not yield to politically motivated blackmail”
Hungary’s Chief of Staff: V4 cooperation reliable in long term
The Visegrád Group cooperation is reliable, non-partisan, and respects the interests of all member states, and has become an important factor in the European Union, the Hungarian prime minister’s chief of staff said on Friday in Budapest.
Gergely Gulyás told a press conference after a meeting of the EU affairs ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia that all V4 states were committed to the EU, and see no alternative to “institutional European cooperation”.
At the same time, Gulyás noted that cohesion, the reduction of development gaps between various EU member states, is enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty as a primary objective of the EU.
The goal of Friday’s meeting, Gulyás said, was to “coordinate and share best practices at a time of intense negotiations with the European Commission” on funding for the 2021-2027 financial cycle.
The Visegrád countries have mostly submitted their planned operative programmes, “and technological and professional talks are proceeding well with the EC”. “If politics doesn’t interfere, we hope to achieve a partnership agreement on the next financial cycle within one or two months,” he said, adding that this was important because most member states tended to pre-finance their projects.
Read also Will Hungary send soldiers to fight in Ukraine?
He said the conclusion of the partnership agreement was “not behind schedule”, noting that in the previous funding cycle, the signing of the pact had come a year and a half after the approval of the budget.
Concerning the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund, Gulyás said the reason why member states had agreed to jointly take out a loan was because it was a “one-time solution” which the EU had said was necessary for the economic recovery.
Gulyás also said that there was a “serious distrust” of the EC on the parts of Hungary and Poland because the Commission had yet to approve their recovery plans “for political reasons”. He added, at the same time, that the agreement with the EC could be signed soon, and the projects were being pre-financed.
“If we have to wait for the Hungarian elections for this to happen then so be it,” he said.
Gulyás said the V4 were effective when it came to the drawdown of EU funds from the previous funding period. Hungary has drawn down 71.9 percent of the funds it is entitled to, he said, noting that it was the fifth most effective member state in this respect, “competing with Poland”.
He said V4 cooperation on cohesion policy had always been close, adding that this was “a big help in the talks with the EC”.
Read alsoSecretary: Hungary’s electoral system among most transparent
“We trust that it will remain that way in the future as well, and that the region will remain an engine of the EU’s economic growth and progress,” he said.
Daniela Grabmullerova, the Czech deputy minister for regional development, said V4 cooperation in “delicate issues concerning the European Union” was inspiring. The Czech Republic will draw on that experience during its upcoming EU presidency, when it aims to bolster the development of cohesion policy, she said.
Grabmullerova noted that cohesion funds amounted to 40 percent of the resources for community investments in the Czech Republic. The government hopes that the EU will approve its programme during the spring, she said.
Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Veronika Remisova called for the continuation of the cohesion policy, “an important pillar of the European Union”. Slovakia is preparing apace its operational programmes and the cooperation agreement with the EU, she said. Increasing the efficiency of the use of EU funds by curbing the red tape surrounding the resources is one of Slovakia’s priorities in the process, she said. Funds from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), set up to offset the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, will be used to bolster vulnerable sectors, especially SMEs, she said.
Polish regional development minister Grzegorz Puda praised Hungary for its “exemplary use of the cohesion funds which has yielded spectacular results in the past few years.” The cooperation of the Visegrád countries is very useful for all parties, he said.
Read alsoEU court ruling against PM Orbán’s “toxic populist brand”?
Visegrad Group energy ministers discuss hydrogen in Budapest
Energy ministers of the Visegrad Group — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — discussed the planning and establishment of a European hydrogen ecosystem at a meeting in Budapest on Tuesday.
Government officials in charge of energy from Germany and Austria also attended the meeting virtually.
Innovation and Technology Minister László Palkovics said cooperation at the national and the European level is “very important” to advance investment projects in innovative areas and the development of new technologies. Establishing forums that promote cooperation with market players and address regulatory issues should be a focus of governments’ joint efforts, he added.
Palkovics noted that
all six of the countries represented at the meeting already have or are drafting their own hydrogen strategies.
Slovak Minister of Economy Richard Sulik said
his country will soon put hydrogen-powered buses into operation in a city with a population of 30,000.
Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Sikela pointed out geopolitical risks, noting that none of the V4 can be self-sufficient in hydrogen production. Subsidies policy and energy market regulation are key, he added.
Polish Minister of Climate and Environment Anna Moskwa also said geopolitical factors must be weighed.
After the meeting, the sides signed a joint declaration on strengthening energy transformation, energy security and the European electricity transmission system as well as the establishment of a connected European hydrogen ecosystem.
Read alsoMinister: Hungary’s gas supply from Russia is secure until 2036
Czech Republic sends new police unit to Hungary-Serbia border
The Czech Republic has sent another 40-member police unit to help patrol the Hungary-Serbia border as part of a border protection partnership among the Visegrad Group countries.
Jenő Szilassi-Horváth, deputy police chief of the Csongrád-Csanád County police force, said the Czech contingent provided substantial help to Hungary in its border protection efforts.
The previous contingent helped apprehend more than 6,000 illegal migrants over the course of their two-month service, he said.
The new contingent will be posted on the Hungary-Serbia border until March 24,
using their own equipment and vehicles, Szilassi-Horváth said.
Miroslav Toth, commander of the Czech unit, said
the contingent had brought 16 vehicles, night vision equipment and two dogs to help protect the Schengen border.
Read alsoHungary worries about the worsening security situation of Europe
V4: “It is crucial to create a European-level migration and refugee system”
The defence and law enforcement committees of the parliaments of the Visegrád Group have expressed support for an undivided NATO and European Union, Lajos Kósa, the head of the Hungarian committee, said after a meeting of his V4 counterparts in Debrecen, in eastern Hungary, on Friday.
The closed-door meeting, also attended by Slovenia, as an observer, focused on strategic and long-term cooperation issues as well as topical subjects such as the situation in Ukraine, Kósa told a press conference.
The participants issued a joint statement concerning the draft migration and refugee pact of the EU, as well as on defence cooperation between the Visegrád countries.
In their statements, the committee heads warned that a further increase in tension around Ukraine could trigger a wave of mass migration and create a situation similar to the Belarusian migration crisis and called for a complex approach.
It is crucial to create a European-level migration and refugee system that could “cope with the challenges, the migration pressure on the external borders of the EU, as well as with the hybrid attacks that use migration as a tool”, the statement said.
In their statement, the signatories also called on the EU to “avoid any measures triggering migration”. Participants in the meeting also expressed support for the Hungarian V4 presidency’s efforts to further cooperation “in a V4+” format in view of shared security threats and challenges, Kósa said.
Read also Next Hungarian president prepares for ideological cold war
Next Hungarian president prepares for ideological cold war
“I am prepared to take action rather than gestures,” Katalin Novák, the ruling parties’ candidate for president said in an interview published by the weekly Mandiner on Thursday. “We must be prepared for an ideological cold war with freedom against licentiousness,” she said in her interview.
Novák called for “finding common areas to manifest the unity of the nation” and mentioned national pride, protection for families, promoting the national heritage and young talents as such areas. She also pledged to suspend her (ruling Fidesz) party membership once elected.
Novák called for “finding common areas to manifest the unity of the nation” and mentioned national pride, protection for families, promoting the national heritage and young talents as such areas. She also pledged to suspend her (ruling Fidesz) party membership once elected.
As president, Novák said she would strive for good neighbourly relations with other countries, adding that
“Hungary is a key player in cooperation between central European countries”.
Concerning the current situation, Novák said the coronavirus pandemic and inflation were the greatest challenges. She welcomed that “wages and family assistance have increased considerably” since 2010, but added that wage hikes should be continued especially in health and education. But in the long run “it is of paramount importance that
Hungary should stay a Hungarian country”,
she added.
On another subject, Novák called for vigilance because “in the West LGBTQ propaganda is targeting kindergartens and schools” and voiced agreement with a government-initiated referendum on the subject. “It is my conviction that parents should have the primary right to educate their children. Anyone influencing minors behind their back and contrary to their intentions is wrong,” Novák said.
Touching upon the election campaign, Novák said “social media has now become a part of everyday life … demanding more and more, becoming more and more aggressive and personal”.
“I have always avoided harming the human dignity of others and will continue to do so,”
she added.
As for environmental protection and sustainability, Novák said it was natural for her not to waste anything. In her childhood, she said “it was natural to use whatever we could and never throw away food”. “Sustainability starts with having a young generation to pass an environment-friendly attitude to. If there is no next generation, there is nobody to preserve the Earth for,” she said.
On the subject of the rule of law, Novák said that protecting the constitutional order was a presidential task irrespective of political affiliation. “I will not assist to toppling the rule of law,” she insisted.
Read alsoNovák: Becoming 1st female President of Hungary would bear great responsibility
Turkey-Visegrad Group foreign ministers meeting held in Budapest
The European Union should transfer without delay all the support promised to Turkey for looking after migrants staying there because Ankara has a highlighted role in protecting the continent, the foreign ministry said citing Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó as saying on Tuesday.
Szijjártó told a joint press conference after a Turkey-Visegrad Group foreign ministers meeting that Europe was under unprecedented attack from three directions which is expected to strengthen in the future.
One of the reasons he cited was the situation in Afghanistan.
He said that following the failure of international intervention there, food supplies were in danger for some 23 million people in the country and the number of internal refugees had reached four million.
In order to present further migratory waves, the publication of statements and plans that encourage migration should be prevented and close partnership should be developed with countries on the route of migrants, he said. In terms of the latter effort, Turkey plays a key role in the protection of Europe, he added.
“The protection of Hungary’s southern borders starts in Turkey and with Turkey,” he said.
As a result, Szijjártó called on the EU to transfer the entire sum of 6 billion euros which had been promised to Ankara, especially considering that the Turkish government has already spent 40 billion dollars on looking after migrants staying in the country, the ministry said. Additionally, he said the community should support Turkey’s border protection efforts in order to prevent a further increase in migratory pressure.
Szijjártó said
the Hungarian government was strongly against the EU’s plan to sign the Post-Cotonou agreement with 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific States which he described as “the little brother of the UN Global Compact for Migration”.
Instead of finding ways for Africans to come to Europe, the EU should agree with Africa on how Africans can be convinced to stay at their place of birth, he said.
Mevlut Cavusoglu
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country was looking after the largest number of refugees in the world since 2014. As a result, he said settling the Afghan situation was especially important and added that the international community should gradually establish relations with the new Talib leaders.
Jan Lipavsky
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said the V4 group was an important format for cooperation and added that Ankara played a key role in the fight against illegal migration.
Zbigniew Rau
Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau called for speeding up EU enlargement in the Western Balkans and praised opportunities for economic cooperation between the V4 and Turkey.
Ingrid Brockova
Slovak foreign affairs state secretary Ingrid Brockova said it must be prevented that Afghanistan should again become a starting pont of terror attacks and migratory waves. She said increasing pressure in the Western Balkans was cause for concern.
Read alsoHillary Clinton: Hungary is ruled by an autocratic, greedy, and corrupt leader
PM Orbán: V4 to protect families from new EU taxes
The Visegrád Group countries at the European Council summit in Brussels will be fighting to secure lower energy prices for families, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a video on Facebook on Thursday.
Orbán said energy prices would be the most important topic at the meeting of EU leaders, as “gas and electricity prices have straight up exploded in Europe … due in large part to poor regulation by Brussels”.
“We, along with the Poles, the Czechs and the Slovaks will initiate changes to energy pricing rules and making energy cheaper for families,” he said. “We also want to prevent Brussels’s plan to levy a tax on homeowners and car owners.”
“The Czechs, the Poles, the Slovaks, the Hungarians and possibly the Bulgarians will be fighting together to protect the interests of families,”
Orbán said.
The prime minister said he expected talks to go late into the night.
Read alsoFidesz: EU openly intervenes in the general election
Visegrad Group leaders held talks with Macron
The Visegrad Group (V4) leaders held “exhaustive talks” with French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after the summit in Budapest on Monday.
Orbán told a press conference he held jointly with his V4 counterparts and Macron that the French president had laid out plans and goals of France’s upcoming European Union presidency.
Apart from the “passionate” discussions on the issue and the rule of law and the “thorough and exhaustive” talks on migration, the five leaders also discussed the situation in the Western Balkans and the issue of energy — nuclear power, in particular — as well as the future of the EU’s emissions trading system, Orbán added.
The prime minister said it was a “rare opportunity” for the five of them to be able to “speak openly about such important issues”.
Orbán thanked Macron on behalf of the V4 for his openness and future-mindedness, and for having given the central European grouping the chance to think ahead about the most important goals of the French EU presidency.
In response to a question, the prime minister said he and Macron often had “sharp debates” which he said he enjoyed.
A debate is only bad if there is no “quality” to it, Orbán said, adding that in future, too, he looked forward to having “quality debates” with the French president.
Orbán said this meant that Hungary would always give the president of France the respect he deserved, partly because of who he is and partly because the French president “is highly valued in Hungary”. Orbán praised Charles de Gaulle as a “point of reference”, and he noted that Giscard d’Estaing had visited Hungary to campaign for Fidesz before it won the 1998 general election. He added that he had worked together with Jacques Chirac and noted that Nicolas Sarkozy’s ties to Hungary were well known.
This is why, he said, he showed Macron and France respect by not giving his opinion on French domestic politics.
Orbán said Hungary, along with its secret services, was governed by the rule of law. “When we started out in politics, this was not the case, since we come from the resistance to the communist regime,” the prime minister said. “We came into politics from the world of freedom fighters and street fighters.”
In response to another question, Orbán said Hungary’s economic performance and financial situation were assessed by the market. The euro zone, he said, was a “lukewarm and nice place” where the order of things was determined by the bloc’s Stability and Growth Pact. “But the market is cold and cruel,” he added. “That’s where we have to hold our own,” Orbán said, adding that the value and strength of the Hungarian economy was measured on the markets.
Hungary “is in good shape so far”, he said, adding, at the same time, that the government needed to keep an eye on the budget deficit.
As regards the government’s planned reacquisition of Liszt Ferenc International Airport, Orbán said it was not reasonable to close the deal before the 2022 election given the high rate of inflation and the volatility of the global financial markets.
“So we’ll wait for the elections and decide on this afterwards,” he said.
Orbán also said the EU’s payouts of the pandemic recovery monies Hungary was entitled to were delayed for “political reasons”. He said it was “completely unacceptable” on the part of the European Commission to expect Hungary to amend its law on family rights and education. “What does this have to do with restarting the European economy? What does this have to do with spending the funds sensibly?” he said.
“We’re the victims of political blackmail”,
Orbán said, adding that Hungary’s economy would survive without the funding for a long while yet, and all the relevant projects were under way thanks to state pre-financing.
He said neither the economy nor Hungarians had suffered as a result of “Brussels’ blackmail”.
The prime minister said Hungary had been alone in deciding to put up a physical barrier to protect the border and Europe as a whole, but had been on the receiving end of “the harshest attacks” from “Brussels and several European capitals” for its efforts.
The government, he said, had not taken offence or complained, knowing that it was protecting Europe as well as the country.
But now Hungary’s standpoint had changed, he said, adding that several countries would have to spend serious money to defend themselves and the Schengen border. “It’s high time the European Union showed some solidarity,” he said.
Orbán said
Hungary had supported other EU member states, but Brussels had not reciprocated.
He underlined Hungary’s demand that at least half of the costs of protecting Europe that Hungarian taxpayers borne should be picked up by the EU.
Read alsoMacron held talks with Orbán in Budapest
Hungarian FM: the key to the success of the Visegrád Group is ‘common sense’
A key of the success of the Visegrád Group (V4) countries has been that they have based their economic and security policies on “common sense”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a video message to a joint V4 parliamentary committee meeting on Friday.
The grouping comprising the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia is “the closest, most effective and most successful” alliance within the European Union today, the minister said.
In recent years the four countries have achieved results together that they could not have on their own, he added.
Szijjártó highlighted the V4’s thwarting of the introduction of mandatory migrant quotas as the group’s biggest achievement. If Brussels’s “crazy proposal” had not been rejected, there would be tens or hundreds of thousands of migrants on the territory of the V4 countries today, he said.
read also: FM Szijjártó: EU energy policy is overly politicised, even though statements will not heat homes
Szijjártó praised the V4 as an “extremely strong and competitive region”. This, he said, was demonstrated by the fact that if the grouping were a single state, it would be the third most populous EU country and the world’s 15th largest economy.
One of the main reasons for the region’s success is the use of “common sense” in economic and security policy, Szijjártó said. He praised the advantages of low tax rates when it comes to attracting international investment and job creation.
read also: V4, Morocco foreign ministers held talks in Budapest
Tax policy, he said, should remain a national competence, adding that the V4 must insist on that element of their sovereignty. Hungary will carry on with its tax cuts “even if some don’t like it”, he said.
Meanwhile, Szijjártó said the EU had also made several mistakes in the area of energy security. He said the details of the European Green Deal had not been fleshed out thoroughly enough and that the document was being used more as a “political communication tool”.
Szijjártó said the government considered environmental protection important, adding, at the same time, that it was crucial to “remain sensible” in this area as well. The minister said it had been a “big mistake” to turn Europeans against natural gas and nuclear energy.
read also: Minister: green future impossible without nuclear energy
More than 70 percent of Hungary’s electricity demand will be supplied by the country’s nuclear power plant in Paks by the end of the decade, he said, noting that Hungary had recently signed a new long-term gas purchase agreement with Russia’s Gazprom.
As regards migration, Szijjártó said EU member states should insist on their right to determine who can and cannot enter their territory.
Read alsoBelarusian dictator’s confidant travelled with a Hungarian visa
V4, Morocco foreign ministers held talks in Budapest
Migration pressure from the Sahel region poses a serious short-term risk to the European Union, which has a vested interest in strengthening the stability of north African states, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday after meeting Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita alongside Visegrad Group foreign ministers.
Szijjártó told a joint press conference after the talks that the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia together had “successfully stopped the introduction of mandatory resettlement quotas in the EU,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Had we not shown strength and unity, tens of thousands of illegal migrants would be living in central Europe right now,” he said.
Central European states maintain that help should be taken where the trouble is, and the root causes of migration should be handled there, Szijjártó said. Europe should also cooperate with states that can contribute to pushing back “European defence lines” as far as possible, he said.
Migration pressure from Africa “has always been a headache”,
and it is expected to strengthen as the causes of migration from the continent pick up, he said. Twelve terrorist organisations are currently active in the Sahel, he noted. The security of the region is deteriorating and economic challenges are exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, he added.
Szijjártó noted that many African countries have extremely low inoculation rates against Covid-19, so new variants were more likely to emerge there, he said.
Illegal migration from the continent is posing a serious health risk for Europe, he said.
The north African region is a key defence line for European security, Szijjártó said.
Morocco, “which has already stopped hundreds of thousands of migrants”, is a key link in that chain, he said. The EU should do everything in its power to help Morocco strengthen border protection and economic development, he said.
“Europe has a vested interest in a strong, stable Morocco capable of stopping migration waves and protecting its own borders,” he said.
Bourita noted the importance of cooperation in the face of challenges such as terrorism, illegal migration and organised crime. Morocco is looking into diversifying its partnerships within the EU, he said.
Read alsoMoroccan foreign minister Nasser Bourita visits Hungary
Visegrad Group expresses solidarity with Poland in migration crisis
The Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia pledged solidarity with Poland in the migration crisis on its border with Belarus, at a summit in Budapest on Tuesday.
At the joint press conference after the talks,
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki thanked Viktor Orbán of Hungary, Eduard Heger of Slovakia and Andrej Babis of the Czech Republic for their support.
Morawiecki said the situation amounted to a “new political crisis” where Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko “colluded with the mafia and people smugglers and used human beings to put pressure on the European Union.”
Babis noted that
Hungary had faced “all around criticism” when it built a fence to protect its borders in 2015.
By now, several heads of state have proposed that the EU should fund physical barriers, he said.
Heger called the protection of the European Union’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and member states a “joint task”.
He said he had talks with Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg on the situation earlier on Tuesday. The two leaders signed a declaration and pledged to provide help on the Polish-Belarusian border. They also condemned the exploitation of migrants, he said. Slovakia has already offered its Frontex officers to help manage the situation in Poland and Lithuania, and was one of the countries turning to the European Commission for help, he said.
Orbán: EU facing unprecedented levels of migration pressure
Speaking to the media with his Czech, Polish and Slovak counterparts, Orbán said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had briefed the rest of the V4 on the situation on his country’s border.
In addition to the migration pressure on the Polish border, “NGOs are continuously bringing migrants to Europe’s shores” and the Western Balkan route “is again full”, the prime minister said.
Orbán thanked Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis for his decision to send soldiers to the Hungarian border and their help in apprehending more than 4,000 illegal entrants.
He said people fleeing Afghanistan would also make their way to Europe via the Western Balkan route. Some 30,000-35,000 people are fleeing the central Asian country on a daily basis, so the EU should expect the pressure on the Western Balkan route to increase, he added.
“And the Poles are on the receiving end of the latest attack,” Orbán said.
“Our Polish friends are the ones under attack because of migration from the east.”
The prime minister criticised Brussels’s “flawed” migration policy, saying that the EU was prepared to fund “practically anything that increases migration pressure”.
Brussels supports NGOs and launches integration programmes, he added.
The one thing Brussels refuses to finance is border protection, Orbán said. Hungary insists that the EU should cover the costs of the protection of the European borders, he said, adding that countries located on the bloc’s periphery cannot be expected to bear those costs alone.
Hungary has always said that it would only be fair if the EU covered at least half of the costs of the country’s border protection efforts “given that we’re not just protecting ourselves but the whole of Europe”, Orbán said.
The V4 proposes that the EU should not support a single country that contributes either directly or indirectly to the migration pressure on the bloc’s external borders, including the pressure on the Polish border, Orbán said. He added that the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia had expressed their full solidarity with and support for Poland at the meeting.
