Video: Orbán is booed by Prague protesters
At the EU summit in Prague, dozens of people demonstrated with slogans calling for a strong Union and opposing vetoes. The arrival of the Hungarian prime minister provoked strong reactions.
Dozens of protesters with Ukrainian flags and signs waited for the heads of state and government arriving for the informal EU summit in Prague on Friday. The protesters greeted the summit participants in the Czech capital with signs reading “No to vetoes” and chanting “Strong Union!”, rtl.hu reports.
In the second part of the video, the leaders of the EU’s two largest economies, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, are seen arriving on foot, accompanied by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The protesters are almost oblivious to them.
Viktor Orbán was one of the last to arrive, alone, and was not received so warmly. As soon as he got out of his minibus, he had to enter the meeting venue to a concert of whistles from the demonstrators. As you can see in the first half of the video above, Orbán walks past members of the press amidst a concert of whistles and boos from the back.
Almost all the leaders made statements to the press, but Viktor Orbán refused to talk to journalists, Telex writes. At the Prague summit, EU leaders focused on energy supply and security. On Thursday, the meeting was attended by EU leaders and several European leaders. Only Russia and Belarus were not invited.
Read alsoBudapest traffic paralysed again this weekend – here are the details
PM Orbán holds talks with former Czech president Klaus in Prague
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán discussed the Russia-Ukraine war and the related migration and economic crises with former Czech president Václav Klaus in Prague, the prime minister’s press chief said on Thursday.
The meeting held in the building of the Václav Klaus Institute also touched on price increases and the energy shortage, Bertalan Havasi told MTI.
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Orbán told Klaus that Brussels’s “flawed sanctions policy” needed to be rethought because the sanctions on Russia had failed to live up to expectations. The war has not ended, prices in Europe are soaring and Russia is benefitting from the situation, the prime minister said.
Orbán and Klaus also discussed the political and economic developments seen in central Europe after the fall of communism, including their own personal memories.
Orbán also held talks with former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis, the head of the opposition ANO movement, ahead of Thursday’s summit of European Union leaders, Havasi said.
Read also Orbán’s Fidesz found who to blame for the denied EU funds
Protection of external borders crucial to Schengen area security, says Minister Pintér
Europe must protect its external borders so as to guarantee peace and security within the borders of the passport-free Schengen area, Interior Minister Sándor Pintér said after meeting his Slovak, Czech and Austrian counterparts in Bratislava (Pozsony) on Monday.
The ministerial meeting was held at the initiative of Slovakia in the wake of Czechia and Austria recently reinstating checks on the Slovakian border in response to a rise in the flow of illegal migrants.
The four officials discussed boosting cooperation against illegal migration.
Addressing a joint press conference after the meeting, Pintér said Hungary’s position on illegal migration hadd not changed since 2015.
“In 2015, when 391,000 people entered Hungary uninvited, we built a fence and have been protecting the European Union’s external Schengen borders ever since,” he said.
The minister said the pressure on Hungary from illegal migration this year was at its highest since 2015, with the authorities having turned away or deported some 100,000 people so far. He said the fact that some 2,000 people smugglers had been sentenced so far this year was a testament to Hungary’s successful border protection efforts.
Pintér thanked Austria and Czechia for their assistance in protecting the Schengen area‘s external borders, saying that hopefully the new agreements between the four countries would provide further help.
“I hope Brussels will also accept that we need to protect our external borders in order to ensure peace and security within the Schengen zone’s borders,” Pintér added.
Read alsoPHOTOS: first Hungarian border hunters inaugurated!
Roman Mikulec, Slovakia’s interior minister, welcomed the “constructive” meeting, saying he and his counterparts were in agreement on the need to boost the protection of the external borders, to stop illegal migration outside the Schengen area, and that this required cooperation from the European Union. “Frontex should do what it was created for,” he said.
Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said the message of the meeting was that illegal migration needed to be resolved at the EU level and that the bloc needed to recognise that it had to act.
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said “cross-border crime” required cross-border solutions. Though the protection of the internal borders is also important, it is the strengthening of the external borders that is most important right now, he said, adding that Austria will send police officers to help boost border controls.
Read alsoThousands of illegal immigrants arrested at the Hungarian-Romanian border
V4 defence ministers meet in Slovakia
The countries of the Visegrad Group (V4) have a vested interest in peace being restored in Ukraine as soon as possible, Hungary’s defence minister said on Tuesday.
Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said after a meeting of V4 defence ministers in Banska Stiavnica (Selmecbanya), in southern Slovakia, that the sides had been in agreement that every effort must be made to prevent the escalation of the war and the involvement of the V4, the European Union and NATO in it.
The meeting focused on the war, the current and future cooperation of V4 countries in defence and the defence industry, army development and the Western Balkans, Szalay-Bobrovniczky said.
Hungary’s position on helping Ukraine has remained unchanged, he said, citing the largest humanitarian scheme in the country’s history to help refuges and assist in caring for the injured, and in demining and training in military first aid.
“We condemn Russian aggression and maintain the importance of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” he added.
Read alsoHungary, Poland to remain strong military allies, says defence minister
Czech minister: Hungary on the edge of the abyss, Huxit possible
Hungary drifts further and further away from the European mainstream. Therefore, leaving the European Union is not an impossible scenario, Mikuláš Bek, the Czech minister for European affairs, said in an interview.
The Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union started this July. According to Index.hu, Mr Bek talked mainly about their goals. For example, he mentioned they would like to do everything to handle the energy crisis. However, at the moment, opinions differ significantly about how the EU should tackle the situation, he added. “If I ask three experts, they give four scenarios on how it would be the best to regulate the market,” he highlighted.
He said many countries did not support the Commission’s suggestion to introduce a price cap on Russian gas. He mentioned Italy among those countries that suggest an agreement or ceasefire with the Russians. They would do so even by sacrificing Ukrainian territories and weakening Kyiv.
The Hungarian and the Cyprian government already backed such plans during the summer. However, the minister said such suggestions are currently part of a minority opinion. But they do not forget to consider them. He said the European Union would not accept an unfavourable ceasefire in return for a short-term economic ascension.
Bek said it was becoming harder to keep Hungary part of the European mainstream. He mentioned among the successes that Hungary did not veto the sanctions against the Russian oligarchs. Globally, on the other hand, Mr Bek was pessimistic about the issue. “In the European Union, there are difficult negotiations”, he said. “But Hungary got very far from us”, he highlighted.
He said Hungary was on the edge of the abyss, and now they must decide whether to turn back or risk and jump. He added he would not even like to consider the consequences of the latter option. He also said it is not impossible that, at some point, Hungary might leave the European Union.
Read alsoCzech Railways sends a message to the Hungarian government in an advertisement — VIDEO
Minister Varga asks the Czechs to help in the negotiations on conditionality mechanism procedure
Justice Minister Judit Varga on Tuesday said she had held talks with her Czech counterpart Pavel Blazek and Mikulas Bek, the minister for European affairs, in Prague.
The talks focused on the priorities of Czechia’s presidency of the Council of the European Union as well as the challenges facing the bloc, Varga said on Facebook.
The minister said she had emphasised at the talks that Hungary would not support any measures that would lead to further energy price increases, higher inflation or greater burdens stemming from sanctions.
Varga said she had briefed her Czech partners on Hungary’s talks with the European Commission on the conditionality mechanism procedure and had asked them for their help in allowing the procedure to be concluded during the Czech presidency.
European unity and the principle of solidarity mean that Hungary and Hungarians must get what they are entitled to, the minister said.
Varga highlighted the links between Hungary’s and Czechia’s past, present and future, saying that the most important common point in their futures was their place in the European community.
As we wrote on Tuesday, the Hungarian government sets up an anti-corruption body under EU pressure.
Read alsoWhat is the Hungarian government doing to comply with the EU?
Czech FM: Orbán “governed” Czechia during the Babis-administration
Masses were demonstrating against the Czech government in Prague this Saturday. Meanwhile, the Czech politicians quarelled about the influence of the Hungarian prime minister. The former Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, claimed that the current government dissolved the V4-cooperation (Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Czechia). The Czech foreign minister claimed that the V4 cooperation weakened because of Orbán’s attitude towards the war in Ukraine.
Orbán’s influence in the Czech Republic
Jan Lipavský also reminded when Orbán was in Prague, he took some photos with a far-right Czech politician. That clearly shows the current policies of the Hungarian government, Lipavský added. The Czech top diplomat also highlighted that under the Babiš government, the country was “governed” by Budapest. But the Czechs do not need Orbán to lead them, he said.
On Saturday, 70 thousand people protested against the Fiala government. The demonstrators demanded military neutrality, the end of foreign dependence and a new gas contract with Russia. The prime minister argued pro-Russia forces organized the demonstration and the demands did not meet the country’s interests, Magyar Narancs reported.
President to travel to Bucharest next week
President Katalin Novák will travel to Bucharest at the invitation of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday next week, daily Magyar Nemzet said on Saturday.
In addition to meeting her Romanian counterpart, President Novák will be received by Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca, President ad interim of the Senate Alina-Stefania Gorghiu, and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Ion-Marcel Ciolacu. Novak will also meet Hunor Kelemen, president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSz), deputy prime minister, and the other RMDSz ministers of the Romanian government.
The last official meeting between a Hungarian and Romanian president in Bucharest took place in 2010.
Read alsoExhausted Viktor Orbán spends a three-week vacation at the Adriatic
We needs to underscore the importance and development of a uniform European defence system, says Hungarian minister
Only an EU that has strong defence capabilities will be able to surmount the security challenges it faces and Hungary is ready to take up a role in creating those capabilities, the defence ministry said in a statement on Tuesday .
Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said at an informal meeting of EU defence ministers in Prague that “Hungary supports the creation of a more pro-active European Union, which is able to give a rapid and effective response to security challenges”.
The meeting organised under the Czech EU presidency focused on the global impact of the war in Ukraine, defence and security support provided to Ukraine and measures to develop defence capabilities.
“Hungary can significantly contribute to strengthening Europe’s defence-technological and industrial foundations. The country is currently carrying out one of the largest-scale military upgrade programmes in Eastern Europe,” the ministry quoted Szalay-Bobrovniczky as saying.
“With the war in Ukraine, the world has entered a new era of strategic uncertainty. This new era has resulted in historic steps … such as the enlargement of NATO with Finland and Sweden, as well as several countries’ decision to increase their defence budget,” the minister said. He said the war in Ukraine “has revealed the weaknesses of Europe’s defence capabilities while it has also created an opportunity for intensifying efforts to strengthen regional defence and resilience. The cooperation of the EU and NATO in this endeavour is of critical importance,” the minister told the meeting.
“Since this war is being fought in the European continent, right next door to us, Hungary, we need to underscore the importance and development of a uniform European defence system,” he said.
Szalay-Bobrovniczky said that the war could also trigger further waves of illegal migration, increasing the danger of terrorism and posing an additional security challenge to several countries.
Czech Railways sends a message to the Hungarian government in an advertisement — VIDEO
Czech State Railways recently published a new advertisement promoting its Budapest services. At the end of the ad, it slams the anti-LGBTQ+ campaign of the Orbán government.
Czech State Railways is promoting its services to the Hungarian capital in a half-minute advertisement. A family of three is travelling on the train. The girl wants to introduce her partner “Peta” to her parents. The father first addresses a large man who asks in Hungarian what is happening. The girl, however, points to a woman and says: “Dad, this is Peta”. The father is a little surprised and then happily hugs his daughter’s partner.
Read alsoTwo airlines cancelling thousands of flights, Hungary also affected!
The video ends with a meal together on the train. The ad quickly became popular in the Czech Republic, 444.hu reports.
Hungarian Finance Minister Varga meets Czech counterpart
Finance Minister Mihály Varga met his Czech counterpart, Zbynek Stanjura, in Budapest on Monday, the Hungarian ministry has said.
At the working lunch, the ministers touched on the challenges facing the European Union and the priorities of the current Czech presidency, the ministry said on Facebook.
Other topics included energy security, especially the financing of gas reserves, EU funding and the challenges regarding the recovery fund, it said.
Besides being an important ally, Czechia is also Hungary’s sixth most important trading partner, where bilateral trade picked up by 10 percent last year, the ministry said.
Read alsoHigh-speed railway to link Budapest, Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava soon?
Czechs: a fleet of outdated aircraft safeguards Hungary’s airspace
A fleet of Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets protect Hungary’s airspace, just like in the Czech Republic where the government uses the same models. But the Prague government wants to replace its planes, and Czech military strategists are dreaming big. Meanwhile, Hungary may be stuck with outdated planes for a long time.
New Czech aircraft from the USA
The Czech government has started negotiations with the United States on the purchase of F35 fighter jets, napi.hu reports. The Czech Defence Ministry would equip two squadrons with the super-weapon. This means that the Czech defence forces could have 24 35s. The exact price is not yet known, but it is certain that this will be the largest purchase of weapons in the history of the Czech army.
It is the best fighter aircraft on the market, with a capability unlike any other,” says Matúš Halás, a security policy expert at the Institute of International Relations in Prague. The negotiations could last until October 2023.
Read alsoWizz Air flight evacuated due to bomb threat again!
Will Hungary follow the Czech example?
Experts say the difference between the new models and the existing aircraft in the Czech Republic and Hungary could be compared to the difference between a Ferrari and a Dacia. Looking at Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, many believe that the development of the Hungarian Air Force would be justified. In the current political climate, defence costs cannot be spared.
Opposition politicians disagree. They believe that the Czech government would choose the American weapon for prestige. However, its price and operating costs are much higher than any other comparable aircraft. If the Czech deal goes through, the first F35 could arrive in the Czech Air Force in 2027.
Hungarian Gripen aircraft
The Saab brand is often associated with road vehicles. However, Saab also has a long history in the military industry. It is also the co-designer, alongside Boeing, of the T-7 Red Hawk trainer.
The Jas 39 Gripen is a multirole fighter. It can be used for reconnaissance, offensive and defensive missions. It is a lightweight, single-engine, single-seat fighter that is easy to manoeuvre. It has a range of 3,200 kilometres and can fly at an altitude of 15,420 metres.
It has not been used in Sweden due to European stability and a reserved foreign policy. Nor has it been in sharp combat in Hungary. Routine flights are often held in Hungary though, writes liner.hu. Therefore, even if they are not the most updated models, perhaps the Ferrari Dacia analogy is an exaggeration.
Read alsoIs the Hungarian government profiteering from the VAT on utility bills?
Current gas reserves equal 1/4 of annual consumption
Hungary’s natural gas storage facilities were 44 percent full and were being filled up further, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said after meeting the Austrian, Czech, Slovak and Slovenian foreign ministers in Budapest on Wednesday.
The current reserves equal a quarter of annual consumption, he said, adding that Europe’s reserves currently averaged 16.7 percent.
Hungary has also held trade talks on buying gas in addition to the amounts contracted in long-term agreements, and expects to have the opportunity to buy another 700 million cubic meters of gas before the start of the heating season, he said.
Meanwhile, the government is ramping up the upgrade of the Paks nuclear plant, he said, with the aim of “setting the first blocks of concrete in the ground by next year”. The government is also working on finding alternative transport routes for fuel rods which normally transit Ukraine, he said.
Read alsoFilling up gas reserves key to economic stability
Szijjártó warned that Europe, especially Ukraine’s neighbours, faced “extremely grave challenges” to their “physical security” due to the war, as well as “wartime inflation” and “total uncertainty” with regard to energy supply.
Szijjártó said it was crucial to strengthen economic ties among Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia and Czechia.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said the war in Ukraine had further exacerbated a situation already made difficult by the coronavirus pandemic. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin was using “famine as a tool” in his war, and so it is important to aid the Sahel region, he said, referring to stranded Ukrainian grain deliveries to the region.
Meanwhile, the Western Balkans, Schallenberg said, remained a geostrategically important region, adding that it was “imperative” that Bosnia and Herzegovina obtain EU candidate status as soon as possible.
Ivan Korcok of Slovakia said coordinating gas deliveries was “important”, and said the reserves should be benchmarked against consumption. Slovakia has also sufficiently filled its reserves, he said.
Korcok also welcomed the steps taken to advance Moldavia and Georgia’s EU integration.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Falon said the five-country talks gave an opportunity to reach agreements on common challenges. She said migration pressure plagued Slovenia too, but the Schengen Area should continue to function freely. Slovenia is therefore dismantling the fence on its border with Croatia while continuing to ensure protection and security, she said.
Szijjártó said Hungary was contending with the dual pressures of taking in more than 830,000 refugees from Ukraine while preventing 120,000 illegal migrants from entering at the southern border.
He said Hungary would continue to care for refugees while stopping illegal migration at its border, adding that the country has spent 1.6 billion euros on those two objectives, while Brussels had reimbursed only 2 percent of the costs so far.
The only permanent solution will be peace, Szijjártó said. Until then, the government has a duty to protect Hungary and Hungarians from the war and its fallout, he said. Hungary is setting up “border hunter” units to push back against growing migration pressure, he said. The new troops are all the more needed as “illegal entrants are armed more and more often as they try to cross the border,” he said.
Fidesz MEP: Member states need all available funds in current situation
European Union member states, including Hungary and Poland, are in need of all the funds available “in the current challenging situation”, Fidesz MEP Balázs Hidvéghi said in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
“We ask the [EU’s] Czech presidency to help ensure that all member states, including Hungary and Poland, can access the EU funds they are entitled to as soon as possible,” Hidvéghi told Hungarian reporters after a European parliamentary debate on the priorities of Czechia’s presidency of the Council of the European Union.
This is not only needed because the EU’s eastern member states are currently facing the bloc’s biggest ever refugee crisis and taking in the most refugees, but also because the EU faces the threat of a severe economic and energy crisis, he said.
Czechia is taking over the EU’s rotating presidency in a time of unprecedented economic and security challenges, Hidvéghi said. In times like these, the bloc cannot afford to be internally divided or to be bogged down in “unnecessary debates” that go nowhere and only weaken its unity, he added.
“Having one of the Visegrád Group countries hold the presidency of the Council of the EU for the next six months gives us hope that the region’s interests will be a bigger factor in EU decision making,” Hidvéghi said.
He said Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala had outlined an appealing and realistic programme in his address at the EP plenary. Hidvéghi said the Czech presidency’s focus on energy security gave reason to be optimistic, arguing that energy supply was not an ideological issue but rather a physical one. The EU’s primary responsibility is to protect European people, families and businesses, he said.
Hidvéghi also stressed the importance of preserving Europe’s diversity, saying it should be accepted that the EU is a cooperation of many member states. It must also be accepted that member states cannot be forced to do certain things and that they make decisions at their own pace, favouring a variety of solutions, he added.
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The MEP expressed support for Czechia’s position that both nuclear energy and natural gas should be considered environmentally friendly energy sources. If the EU wants to be environmentally conscious and reduce its CO2 emissions, natural gas and nuclear power will have to be part of its energy mix in the coming years, Hidvéghi said.
Concerning the EU’s Article 7 procedure against Hungary, he said the Czech presidency’s approach was similar to Hungary’s, noting that Hungary was prepared for any negotiations and took part in the talks on the basis of mutual respect.
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High-speed railway to link Budapest, Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava soon?
Transport officials of the Visegrád Group countries have agreed to speed up preparations for the construction of a high-speed rail network across their countries and to step up efforts to transport grain from Ukraine, the Ministry of Technology and Industry (TIM) said on Friday.
Europe’s current railway capacities are not enough to transport all the Ukrainian grain which until now had been delivered via the Black Sea to the west on schedule, state secretary Dávid Vitézy said. The V4 officials agreed at their meeting in Budapest that their countries will do their utmost to aid Ukraine as well as Africa and Asia, which rely on Ukraine’s exports, he said.
The V4 countries are exploring new areas for cooperation with a view to expanding their capacities for cross-border transport within the European Union as well as for mapping out transport opportunities via the River Danube, Vitézy said.
The TIM will assign top priority to the improvement of the international integration of Hungary’s rail network and the development of relations with areas beyond the border, the statement said.
All of the V4 states are working on
the development of the high-speed railway line linking Budapest and Warsaw via the Czech and Slovak capitals,
Vitézy said. Hungary can obtain the environmental permit for the Budapest-Győr section of the line within the next year, he said. Slovakia is currently planning the route of its section of the line while the Czech Republic and Poland are in the detailed planning stage, the state secretary added.
According to the statement, the project will shorten travel times between Budapest and its neighbouring capitals to less than two hours. The journey from Budapest to Prague would take three-and-a-half hours and the full Budapest-Warsaw trip will be five-and-a-half hours, with the trains on the line reaching speeds of up to 320kph.
Read alsoThe Guardian: this Hungarian train journey is in Europe’s top 10 – PHOTOS
V4 chiefs of staff discuss army cooperation, Poland was not represented
Army leaders attending a meeting of Visegrad Group chiefs of staff discussed current issues in cooperation between national armies on Tuesday, the Hungarian chief of staff said on Tuesday.
Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said Ukraine’s chief of staff was also invited but the war situation prevented him from travelling to Debrecen for the meeting.
Poland’s chief of staff was also not in attendance,
he added.
“In the current situation, national interests may have priority,”
Ruszin-Szendi said.
The Czech, Slovak and Hungarian army leaders attending the meeting reviewed the situation that has developed in light of the war in Ukraine and tasks resulting from the European Union battlegroup entering service next year, he added.
As we wrote yesterday, German arms and French helicopter plant to open soon in Hungary, read details HERE.
Indo-Pacific Forum in Prague: ‘Global East-West cooperation needed’
Within Europe, the hope of cooperation between East and West has evaporated for the time being due to the war in Ukraine, but on a global level this cooperation is ever more important, Péter Szijjártó, the Hungarian foreign minister, said at the Indo-Pacific Forum held in Prague on Monday.
Szijjártó called for talks with countries in South-East Asia on prospective partnership and cooperation agreements to accelerate, arguing that intensifying foreign relations would strengthen the EU. Striking free trade agreements with Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia would be key in that regard.
A rethink of East-West supply chains for the European economy was vitally important, Szijjártó said, adding that
“failure to improve economic cooperation between Europe and the Indo-Pacific region would deprive both sides of significant growth potential, which is why it is the task of governments and institutions in Brussels to strengthen active relations to their mutual benefit.”
Szijjártó said Hungary’s economy is the tenth most open globally, noting that exports account for over 85 percent of its economic output.
“Our exports last year grew by 25 percent and our trade with the Indo-Pacific region exceeded a record 13.5 billion dollars,”
he said, adding that Hungary was performing well in cooperation with South-East Asia, and the region has been the largest investor in the country for the past three consecutive years.
- read also: Hungarian OTP to establish a bank in China
“So I don’t think it’s surprising that Hungary is urging pragmatic cooperation between Europe and Asia’s south-eastern region with mutual benefits in mind,”
said Szijjártó.
“We in Hungary have done much to improve the country’s competitiveness,”
Szijjártó said, adding that it was now the EU and the European Commission’s turn to dismantle trade barriers still standing in the way of Europe developing trade relations with some of the world’s fastest growing regions.
Speaking about cooperation with China, Szijjártó said:
“It must be admitted that today, irrespective of political ideology and the disputes they have created, the European economy cannot, could not, properly function without Chinese supplies, and it must be conceded too that Chinese investments have greatly contributed to Europe’s economic development and modernisation,”
the foreign minister said. He called for talks on an EU-China investment protection and promotion agreement to be concluded as soon as possible.
Read alsoHungary among the top investment targets of Taiwanese companies in Europe!
President: Hungary counts on the Czech Republic
Hungary is counting on the Czech Republic to cooperate on sanctions policy and to receive the EU support to which it is entitled, President of Hungary Katalin Novák wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday after meeting Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
The President’s visit to Prague
According to Demokrata, the Hungarian President, who is on a two-day official visit to Prague, stressed that she and the Czech Prime Minister agreed that the Russian-Ukrainian war must end as soon as possible, and that the two countries must provide all possible assistance to refugees and people in need.
“This requires not only words, but also concrete actions and EU funds”,
wrote Katalin Novák, adding that
“we count on Czech pragmatism in cooperating on sanctions policy and in ensuring that Hungary receives the EU funds it is rightfully entitled to”.
Cooperation
The forthcoming Czech Presidency of the EU may also have a role to play in this, Novák noted. The President also stressed that cooperation between the Visegrád Four (V4) is a priority for the Czech Republic as well.
“It is good that we were able to speak openly and frankly with Prime Minister Fiala,” Katalin Novák concluded.
Read alsoHefty price increases on medicine, foodstuff, air travel and tobacco?!
President Novák, Zeman confirm commitment to V4 cooperation
Hungary and the Czech Republic have confirmed their commitment to the Visegrad Four cooperation, President Katalin Novák said in Prague on Tuesday after talks with Milos Zeman, her Czech counterpart.
All the four member states have a vested interest in continuing close Visegrad cooperation, Novák told a joint press conference.
She said the two countries’ interests coincide in several fields, and there are plenty of similarities between their history.
“We are more tolerant to different views, can agree on a number of issues and represent together our common position in the European Union,”
Novák said.
The Hungarian president said her talks with Zeman focused on bilateral economic cooperation, the war in Ukraine and family policy.
Hungary and the Czech Republic are connected by long-standing friendship, which should be fostered on the highest level, too, Novák said, adding that this was her first official visit abroad as president.
Discussing the war in Ukraine, Novák and Zeman condemned Putin’s aggression and pledged to support their compatriots’ efforts to help Ukrainian refugees.
Novák said she appreciated the aid that the Czech Republic had provided to refugees. She added that Hungary had so far helped 750,000 Ukrainian refugees in what she called its largest ever humanitarian action.
“While speaking of the war, we keep peace in view and will make every possible effort so that peace be restored as soon as possible,” Novák said.
The president welcomed that the European nations had managed to reach a “sound consensus” on the sixth package of EU sanctions, one that Hungary could also support.
Answering a question, Novák said that Hungary supports sanctions causing bigger harm to the aggressor than to the European Union. “Ones that prevent everyday life in the EU countries are not good sanctions,” she said.
A land-locked country dependent on Russian energy supplies has a narrower scope of manoeuvring than another one with access to the sea and less dependence on Russian oil and gas, she said, noting that Hungary and the Czech Republic were in the same boots from this aspect.
“The ongoing war in Ukraine demonstrates the need for all of us to reduce our dependence on Russian gas and oil supplies,” she said.
Novák wished the Czech Republic much success to its forthcoming EU presidency.
Paying a two-day visit to the Czech Republic, Novak is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
Read alsoNew Hungarian President Novák’s first trip to Warsaw
UPDATE
Zeman said the Czech Republic continued to support cooperation within the Visegrad Four group which he called beneficial to all participants.
“We will by no means loosen or destroy our V4 cooperation,” he added.
Zeman said he highly esteemed Hungary’s political leaders who he said respected and protected their nation’s interests in the context of the Ukraine-Russia war, too.
The Czech president said that although the two countries have no common border, the Czech Republic considers Hungary its “neighbour of honour”.