NATO

FM Szijjártó: NATO had begun to “blur its own red lines”

New York Young Republicans Club Hungarian foreign minister Szijjártó

Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, has said he expects an “elemental struggle” in connection with a proposal by NATO regarding a mission in Ukraine in the coming weeks, underlining, however, that Hungary did not want to train Ukrainian soldiers or deliver weapons to its north-eastern neighbour despite the “enormous pressure” it was under to do so.

Szijjártó about NATO

 Addressing a meeting of ruling Fidesz’s parliamentary group on Monday, Szijjártó said NATO had begun to “blur its own red lines” that said the alliance was not party to the war in Ukraine and that everything possible had to be done to prevent a direct confrontation with Russia.

“And now … the secretary general felt that it would also be worthwhile for NATO to do something, because we can’t have NATO just sitting around for two years with only its member states and the European Union taking the steps that endanger global security,” Szijjártó said.

The minister said NATO wanted to step up its coordination of weapons deliveries and the training of Ukrainian troops, and was planning to approve a 100 billion euro aid package. “Hungary, however, doesn’t want to take part in this in any form,” he added.

“We want to stay out of this completely,” Szijjártó said. He said Hungary wanted its soldiers to be exempt from participating in such a mission and did not want “anything relating to these types of operations happening on Hungary’s territory”. Neither does Hungary want any of its taxpayers’ money to be used for the mission, he added.

Hungary, he said, was under intense pressure to take part in the mission, pointing out that the other two NATO countries that had been on the fence had been persuaded to join the common position, and Hungary was now on its own.

“Everyone has been sucked in, and we’re on our own. And we’ll be completely alone in the battles in the coming weeks,” he said.

Szijjártó said work was already underway in Brussels on putting together the “hinterland” of the operation. “And we’re being pushed in,” he insisted. “We’ve more or less succeeded in getting them to accept, politically, that we don’t want to participate in this, but as I see it, they want to at least try to push us into the financial side of the story.”

“Now they’re trying to put pressure on us by saying, ‘fine, no Hungarian soldiers or even [the use of ] Hungarian territory, but there has to be money’,” Szijjarto said. “And there we have the battle of the weeks ahead: no to all three.”

Meanwhile, Szijjarto said NATO did not want to set a precedent for a member state staying out of a military operation. He lamented that Western political leaders were showing no signs of backing out of weapons deliveries even though it had become clear that the conflict could not be settled on the battlefield.

“Everyone in Europe has been ordered to give everything they have … no matter how it may harm their own security,” the minister said.

The clear position “in NATO circles today”, he said, was that allies needed to help Ukraine even at the risk of hurting their own security. He cited the example of Slovakia, which had not been compensated on time for giving all of its military planes to Ukraine, and its airspace was now being policed by Hungary and Czechia.

“If we Hungarians and the Czechs didn’t guarantee the protection of Slovakia’s airspace, then their only air defence capability would be to angrily shake their fists up at the sky,” Szijjártó said.

He said that because weapons deliveries were “only enough to uphold the status quo”, the only way out was to involve NATO by sending troops and “causing a world war”.

Szijjártó said another scenario would involve the use of nuclear weapons, “of which even one is enough to settle the fate of the world, and there are thousands of them on both sides”.

szijjártó in switzerland
Photo: Facebook/Szijjártó Péter

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International military exercise to be held in Hungary

military, exerise, soldiers, katona

The Swift Response 2024 international military exercise in Pápa, in north-western Hungary, will demonstrate speed and deployability, the deputy commander of the Pápa airbase said on Monday.

Swift Response 2024 is part of a higher-level NATO exercise and involves some 4,500 troops, Lt. Col. Lajos Turzó told a press conference. It is being organised under the leadership of the German division.

The exercise in Hungary will see the participation of German and Dutch soldiers, who will then take part in a paratrooper exercise near Turda (Torda) and Cincu (Nagysink), in central Romania.

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Surprising: Fidesz politician shares strongest criticism of Russia so far

Németh Zsolt Fidesz politician revolution of national cohesion

A Fidesz politician recently said something that can be considered unusual coming from the party. Zsolt Németh has previously made statements about Russia and NATO that differ from official government communications and Fidesz propaganda: however, he has never been so direct in his opposition to the Orbán direction when it comes to the conflict in our neighbourhood.

Németh Zsolt
Some strong statements have been made by the Fidesz politician about Russia and its war in Ukraine. Photo: Facebook/Németh Zsolt

Strong statements made by the Fidesz politician

“As far as the past 25 years are concerned, if we were not members of NATO now, it would probably not be Ukraine that would be defending itself against a Russian attack, but us”, Zsolt Németh began his speech at the conference of the Hungarian Atlantic Society (Magyar Atlanti Társaság) on Tuesday 7 May at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Magyar Tudományos Akadémia), Válasz Online reports.

The Fidesz politician has been outspoken before about this, but he has never been so clear to say that anyone who raises the question of NATO’s responsibility for the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not only spreading lies but is also acting against the Hungarian interest, for those who threaten Hungarian sovereignty are the Russians.

Németh: NATO is not an anti-Russian organisation

NATO Sweden Orbán Stoltenberg
Photo: FB/Orbán

“NATO, whatever President Putin’s esteemed propagandists may say, is not an anti-Russian organisation, it does not plan to attack Russia and never has, but it can protect its members from a Russian attack. Russia cannot limit Hungarian sovereignty by military means because we are a member of NATO,” Zsolt Németh said.

According to the politician, “the fact that Russia sees this defence alliance as a threat is simply proof that it wants to dominate NATO members – or at least part of NATO members – and that NATO is making this impossible. Russia’s behaviour says more about itself than it does about us,” the Fidesz politician added.

According to Németh, Hungary’s membership of NATO is of the greatest importance since we joined 25 years ago because of the war, and therefore we must take a firm stand against those efforts that seek to turn Hungarian public opinion against NATO.

The Russian-Ukrainian war did not break out because of NATO

hungarians fighting in ukraine war fegyir sándor
The leader of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Ukraine, László Zubánics (far right), visited Hungarians fighting in the eastern part of the country. Source: Facebook/Федір Шандор (Fegyir Sándor)

“Any deception of public opinion on NATO is now a direct threat to the physical security and sovereignty of our country,” he said. He added that it is part of Russia’s military strategy to use various actions to undermine confidence in NATO and the importance of NATO membership in Central European countries.

According to the Fidesz politician, “it is extremely damaging to repeat the idea that the Russian-Ukrainian war broke out because of NATO”.

Németh also said that there is no Hungarian interest in Russia being able to arbitrarily tell other countries whether or not they can exercise their rights under international law. “We must not set a precedent for Russia to tell anyone else, because then it will tell us,” he added.

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Hungarian government sends email to public concerning NATO plans on Ukraine war

The government has sent out an email concerning its standpoint on NATO plans in Ukraine to members of the public who had already provided their contact details.

There is no possibility of a settlement on the battlefield and a return to negotiations is therefore needed, the Government Information Centre (KTK) said on Friday in connection with reports of a NATO plan to set up a mission in Ukraine encompassing military training and the coordination of arms shipments.

The email said NATO wanted to “pump” 100 billion dollars into the war over a period of five years, “so it’s likely that the conflict will be prolonged by at least five years”.

“What we see is the worst-case scenario that could lead to a world war,” the statement said, adding that Hungary was under huge pressure to back plans broadening the war.

It said the government’s position was clear: “We want to stay out of the war. We do not want to take part in the NATO mission.”

The statement added that the government would do everything to ensure that Hungary “does not send weapons and soldiers”.

“Lives can be saved only with a ceasefire and through peace,” it added.

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Minister Gulyás: Hungary wants to stay out of Ukraine war

gulyás Strong NATO in Hungary's interest oil transit

Hungary wants to stay out of the Russia-Ukraine war and does not want to participate in the NATO mission in Ukraine either, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday.

Gergely Gulyás told a government press briefing that the government would make every effort to ensure that Hungarian soldiers and weaponry would not be sent to Ukraine.

The government maintains its position that the war cannot be resolved on the battlefield and NATO should focus all its efforts on activating an immediate ceasefire and starting peace talks as soon as possible, he added.

He said at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting the war situation was evaluated as having taken a more serious turn. New details revealed about NATO’s plans carried the risk of the alliance intervening directly in the war, he added.

The Government Information Centre (KTK) will send a “factual report” on war-related developments to members of the public, he added.

Gulyás: Hungary doesn’t want to participate in NATO’s mission in Ukraine

Gulyás said NATO’s Ukraine mission would involve military training and the coordination of weapon deliveries, as well as 100 billion US dollars of spending on the war in the next five years. The expectation that the war may last another five years was reason for concern in itself, he said, but the expectation that all NATO members should participate and “massive pressure” on Hungary to support the alliance’s plans were even more worrying, he said.

Gulyás said NATO may consider a member state to be under attack in the absence of an actual conflict on the ground if it were “directly threatened”. Such “moves and plans” had been mobilised, he said.

He said that at the same time Hungary, as “a loyal ally”, would work to keep NATO from at all intervening in the conflict. Failing that, Hungary would do everything in its power to stay out of any future military missions in Ukraine, he said.

Gulyás said Hungary was a loyal NATO ally and among those countries to have raised defence spending to 2 percent of GDP.

He said that at the same time “peace must be served”, and the government was developing the Hungarian armed forces with a view to guaranteeing the security of its own citizens and NATO as a whole, he said, adding that investments in defence were not about engaging “in missions that threaten to trigger a world war between nuclear powers”.

Gulyás said the alliance’s leadership was likely to work towards a compromise before its meeting in Washington, DC over the summer.

On the subject of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s current visit to Hungary, Gulyás said Xi’s decision to visit Paris and Budapest was a sign of Hungary’s growing weight in the world. He slammed international media for employing “double standards” by “painting the visit to Paris as right and that one to Budapest as wrong”.

Gulyás noted that Chinese GDP, which was 20 years ago one-fifth of the EU’s, has surpassed that of the entire bloc by now, and this showed the EU’s slipping competitiveness and China’s “enormous journey in economic growth”.

In 2004 only fifteen of the world’s largest companies were Chinese; that number grew to 135 by 2023, Gulyás said. The country single-handedly produces 18 percent of the world’s GDP, he said.

Gulyás said it was in Hungary’s interest to attract as much Chinese investment as possible.

Hungary pursues the principle of connectivity in international cooperation, and the government would like to be able to conclude mutually beneficial deals on the highest-quality products possible, he said.

While four-fifths of Hungary’s investments come from Europe, it welcomes companies from all over the world, including the US and South Korea, he said, adding that all investments that created jobs and brought capital to the country were in Hungary’s interest and contributed to growing wages here.

The government reached its economic goal for 2023 and broke “war inflation”, as inflation fell to 3.6 percent in March, Gulyás said, adding that 2024 would be the year of “re-starting the economy”.

Commenting on economic indicators for the first quarter, he said goals for 2024, too, had been fulfilled so far, “despite the war environment dampening European growth”.

GDP grew by an annual 1.7 percent in the first quarter, and by 0.8 percent quarter on quarter, putting Hungary among the fastest growing EU member states, he said. Annual growth is the third highest in the EU, while quarter-on-quarter growth is the second highest, he said.

He said forecasts were less certain as long as the war in Ukraine was still ongoing, adding, however, that the 2.5 percent growth forecast for 2024 and the 4.1 percent growth projected for next year were “realistic” despite the current circumstances.

Gulyás welcomed the incipient recovery in consumption and the increase in retail sales in the first three months of 2024, following 13 consecutive months of decline.

In the tourism sector, commercial and private accommodations registered 7.1 million guest nights in the first quarter, a 14 percent increase compared with the same period last year, with the number of foreign guests rising by 18 percent to 2.9 million, he said.

Gulyás also said more than one million more people had jobs than during the Fidesz government’s left-wing predecessor, while the minimum wage has grown 3.5-fold and the average wage 3-fold since then.

Government spokesperson Eszter Vitályos said more than 3,100 families have applied for over 83 billion forints in CSOK Plusz home purchase subsidies so far, with the applications averaging 26 million forints. More than 35 billion forints had been awarded to more than 1,400 families by the end of March, she added.

Meanwhile, she said more than 210 billion forints-worth of developments have been carried out across the country, of which 180 billion has gone towards public road upgrades.

In connection with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit, Gulyás said China’s economy is the world’s second largest, and it had a good chance of becoming its strongest within a decade.

“China needs markets … and it is interested in having as many capital investments as possible in EU countries. Adopting an anti-China position deteriorates the EU’s competitiveness,” he said, noting that China’s economy in the past two years grew by 700 percent, as against 80 percent in the US and 30 percent in the EU.

Asked whether Chinese companies would contribute to the Paks nuclear power plant expansion, he noted that besides the Russian contractor, US, German, and French companies were involved in the project, and China was not expected to have any significant role.

Asked about the issue of freedom of speech in connection with an incident involving “Chinese people wearing red caps” who had questioned an opposition Momentum MP regarding an EU flag as well as the concealment of a Tibetan flag during the presidential visit, Gulyás said an investigation should first ascertain “if such things in fact happened”, adding that only Hungarian police had such powers in the country.

Regarding the war in Ukraine and China’s related peace plan, he said Hungary alone could not establish peace, and the US and China would have an important say. “We can encourage them to do as much as possible towards attaining an immediate ceasefire and peace,” he said, adding that “war psychosis”, led by the Polish government, was growing.

Gulyás said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was considering whether to participate in a peace summit to be held in Switzerland in mid-June at the initiative of the Ukrainian president. He said a peace summit without both warring parties present “would have not much point”, adding that progress could not be made before the parties sat down and negotiated a ceasefire. He added that he saw no chance off Orbán and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meeting before the European parliamentary elections.

Concerning the preconditions Ukraine must meet before joining the EU, Gulyás said the Hungarian government expected Ukraine to restore the situation prior to 2015 in respect of the ethnic Hungarian minority and the legal status of minority schools, the option to take secondary school final examinations in Hungarian, and using the Hungarian language in higher education, culture, public administration and social life without restrictions. Failing to meet those criteria, Ukraine could not make real progress in its accession talks, Gulyás added.

He said Hungary supported Ukraine as the victim of the Russian attack but not by sending weapons to the country or by contributing to “prolonging the war in any way”.

Regarding aid to Ukraine, he said graft was “a serious problem”, adding it was up to the EU to establish a system to monitor the funds sent there.

Answering a question, he said that in times of war it may be valid to seize the assets of those believed to share responsibility for the war and spend the frozen funds appropriately, but “seizing the assets of a person just because they are Russian evokes the worst of pre-second-world-war times.”

On the topic of the Iranian ex-president’s visit to the National University of Public Service, he said no government member had met the “well-known Holocaust denier”, adding that “it is not easy to ban university lectures in a free country”. The government, he noted, maintained a pro-Israel policy.

On the subject of Europe, Gulyás said that even now he would vote for Hungary to join the EU despite “bad feelings” and “worries about the EU’s operations”. “Hungary has no alternative to European cooperation and the common market, and this is true of the other countries of central Europe,” he said.

Commenting on the European Commission’s readiness to scrap the Article 7 procedure against Poland, Gulyás said Poland now had a “pro-war government which the commission considers as an ally, and which is sufficient reason to close the procedure… Rule of law issues in the EU no longer have anything to do with the law; they have become a purely political matter.”

Regarding domestic politics, Gulyás said Gergely Karácsony, the mayor of Budapest, should admit to accepting unlawful funding from abroad for his election campaign in 2019.

In connection with the Tisza Party’s entry into the Budapest municipal election campaign, Gulyás said the election rules were amended six months ago in line with the opposition’s request for a purely party list system; the change had not been made because of the Tisza Party.

Commenting on the increasing popularity of Peter Magyar’s party, he said “a wrecking derby” was taking place within the left wing, and “voters will decide which leftist party to support.” “It would be unsurprising if Tisza fielded candidates who would work in Brussels to prevent Hungarians from paying lower public utility fees,” he said. “The Hungarian left wing has always been against” the government’s scheme to keep household energy bills low.

“In the end Peter Magyar and [former Socialist PM] Ferenc Gyurcsány will form an alliance … causing a serious loss of credibility to the leftist parties.”

Gulyás said the government would increase tax breaks for families with children once the necessary resources were available. He conceded that though tax benefits for families with two children had increased by 100 percent in the previous government term, the personal income tax breaks offered “significantly less help today than when they were first introduced”. He said the government intended to increase the size of the tax breaks, “but no such decision has been made yet”.

He said the reason behind last month’s fall in the budget deficit had been a 10 percent increase in budget revenues, noting that that the government targeted a deficit of 3.7 percent of GDP in 2025 and 2.9 percent in 2026.

He said retail sales were up compared with 2023, noting that they grew by 4.2 percent in March, with food sales alone rising by 5.7 percent.

Meanwhile, Gulyás attributed the fall in the industrial output to the slowdown of the German economy, but said it had only made a dent in the “higher-than-expected growth rate”. He expressed hope that industrial output figures would improve in the future.

As regards motor fuel prices, he said Friday’s price cut would bring prices at the pump below the average prices in neighbouring countries, and expressed hope that local fuel companies would keep to their agreement with the Hungarian petroleum association (MÁSZ).

Meanwhile, Gulyás said the cabinet had not discussed lowering the price of single-day motorway vignettes to 1,000 forints.

Asked to comment on figures published by national health insurance fund NEAK which show that 47,000 Hungarians are on waiting lists for scheduled operations as against 40,000 last year, Gergely Gulyás said the government planned to discuss proposals to shorten the waiting lists.

Out of thirteen types of operations, patients currently have to wait longer than 60 days for cataract, hip and knee replacement surgery, and spinal stabilisation surgery. The goal is that no one should have to wait for operations, he said, pointing out that though there were more people on the lists this year, this did not mean that they had to wait longer. He added that the average wait time had decreased from 90-100 to 45 days.

Government spokesperson Eszter Vitályos added that when waiting lists were the longest, 43,000 patients had to wait for more than 60 days for operations, and now there were 26,000 such patients.

Meanwhile, Gulyás said the government has earmarked 63.4 billion forints for the settlement of hospital debts, “and it’s very likely that another similar decision will have to be taken his year”.

Asked if the government will give supplementary funding to the struggling Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Gulyás said the financing of higher education institutions would be discussed at the next few cabinet meetings. He added that Hungary had increased government funding for higher education more than any other EU country over the last 2-3 years.

Asked to comment on the BME rector’s remarks that state-financed universities did not receive a share of these resources and were being pushed towards a new management model, Gulyás said state universities had also seen pay hikes in recent years, though not as significant as the institutions that had adopted the new management model. He added that the option of switching to the new model was open to all universities.

Asked about the court ruling suspending the environmental permit of the Samsung battery plant in Göd, near Budapest, Gergely Gulyás said the decision had to be complied with. He said the Hungarian authorities were experienced when it came to handling cases concerning the operations of battery plants, adding that the factories had to adhere to the strictest environmental protection standards.

Asked about the proposed rail shuttle service that would run to and from the Liszt Ferenc International Airport, Gulyás said Hungary needed to explore the possibilities for building a direct rail link between the airport and Budapest and accept the best offer, adding, at the same time, that speculation on any such project was “premature”.

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Defence Minister: Drawing NATO into conflict would lead to world war

The conference marked the 75th anniversary of NATO's founding and the 25th anniversary of Hungary's membership in the alliance.

Those who want to draw NATO into the conflict in Ukraine “want to start a world war,” defence minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said on Tuesday at an international conference organised by the Hungarian Atlantic Council. The conference marked the 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding and the 25th anniversary of Hungary’s membership in the alliance.

Given Hungary’s quarter century as a member of the alliance, “Hungary has an opinion and has the right to one, too, and our most important priority is peace”, he said in his speech at the event entitled European security: the future of Atlanticism and European defense autonomy.

Hungary, he said, was an active and committed member of NATO and was going all out to develop its armed forces, “which is why it has tripled its defense budget in a decade and raised it to 2 percent of GDP”.

Szalay-Bobrovniczky said that without strong national and sovereign armed forces, “NATO has no sense”, so it was crucial that all countries develop their armed forces.

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Can PM Orbán prevent Mark Rutte from becoming NATO General Secretary?

PM Orbán can prevent Mark Rutte from becoming NATO General Secretary

Mark Rutte criticised PM Orbán and Hungary for the Hungarian democracy’s erosion as Dutch prime minister. Now, it can backfire on him since he would like to become NATO General Secretary, which requires the support of all the member states.

Türkiye, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary against Mark Rutte

Jens Stoltenberg, the incumbent General Secretary of the US-led military alliance, will leave the office in October. Currently, there are two candidates applying for the NATO top job: former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

Rutte garnered the support of 28 out of the 32 NATO member states and travelled to Istanbul this Friday to convince the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to support his bid. According to Bloomberg, he was successful in that project.

If that is true, the only opponents of Rutte will be Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. However, following the Turkish support, Iohannis is expected to stand down, which leaves Bratislava and Budapest in the opponent’s position.

Orbán Erdogan NATO Sweden
PM Viktor Orbán and Turkish President Erfogan. Who will support Rutte?

Erosion of democracy in Hungary

Bloomberg did not write anything about Slovakia’s standpoint but mentioned that PM Orbán would probably not support Rutte’s nomination. Before, the former Dutch prime minister criticised Orbán and the Hungarian government for the “erosion of the Hungarian democracy”, and Orbán is not the type of person who forgets such “attacks”.

For example, in 2021, Rutte said they had to bring Hungarians to their knees. In a remark, Orbán said, “Hungarians only kneel before God, before their country, and when they ask for the hand of their lovers.”

Mark Rutte
Mark Rutte. PM Orbán kept referring to him before only as the “Dutch guy.” Photo: FB/Mark Rutte

The military leader of NATO is always American, which is understandable considering the fact that the US Army is by far the strongest military power in the alliance. Of course, that does not make the position of the general secretary weightless.

What will Orbán get in return for his vote?

The general secretary’s task is to bring together the member states and represent NATO’s interests, for example, in the ongoing war in Ukraine. Furthermore, his task will be to prevent any further escalations between Moscow and the Western allies, portfolio.hu wrote.

Rutte will need Hungary’s support since voting about the position requires unanimity. Bloomberg wrote nobody knew what PM Orbán would get in return for his vote.

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PHOTOS, VIDEO: World’s largest plane lands in Hungary twice: what did it bring?

world's largest plane lands in hungary

The people of Pápa, Western Hungary, were puzzled when the largest plane in the world, the An-124-100 Ruslan, landed on the runway of the nearby airport, not only once, but twice. According to some, the plane did not arrive empty.

world's largest plane lands in hungary
The world’s largest military transport aircraft, the Antonov-124-100 Ruslan landing in Pápa, Hungary. PrtSc: Facebook/Bíborka Baky

In the early hours of Sunday morning, 21 April, a Flightradar user spotted a rarely-seen military aircraft giant arriving in Hungary. On the public radar, an Antonov-124-100 Ruslan aircraft appeared. It did not just fly over Hungarian airspace: it even landed, twice, Világgazdaság reports.

About Pápa airport

The 47th Base Airfield of the Hungarian Defence Forces is located in Pápa, one of the three Hungarian-operated military airfields in Hungary (besides Szolnok and Kecskemét). Papa is the only active military air base in Western Hungary.

The arrival of the aircraft was perhaps best captured by the LHPA Spotter Team:

The largest plane: Antonov-124-100 Ruslan aircraft

According to Világgazdaság, the giant aircraft of the Ukrainian airline Antonov Airlines is quite active. A few days ago, it was flying from Poland to England, but it also flew the Tel Aviv-Leipzig route. It does not fly to Hungary very often, however, it is not unprecedented for it to make a stopover. In September 2018, for example, it brought four refurbished Mi-24 combat helicopters to Szolnok.

Antonov Airlines is a Ukrainian cargo airline. It provides a specialised service, transporting oversized cargo from A to B on the international market.

It is not known exactly what the aircraft brought to Pápa, but it may well have something to do with NATO’s SALIS programme. This is a joint strategic air transport arrangement in which a total of nine member countries participate to jointly lease An-124-100 aircraft to support national, NATO and EU operations and missions. The nine countries are Hungary, Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Watch the world’s largest plane begin its landing in Pápa, Hungary below:

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PM Orbán’s chilling warning: NATO is sliding into the war

PM Orbán Ukraine cannot win, but Russia can defeat Kyiv

While the EU leadership “sees the war as their own”, Hungary will not get involved on either side of the Russia-Ukraine war, Viktor Orbán, the prime minister, told public radio in an interview on Friday.

Orbán: NATO is sliding into the war, Hungary will not

“There’s an atmosphere of war in Brussels”, Orbán said.

He said first it was mooted that soldiers should be sent to Ukraine, and now, in a second phase, “NATO is organising a mission in Ukraine”.

Currently, NATO is not sending soldiers but coordinating training and weapon deliveries, and seeking financial resources from member states, “so it is sliding into the war”, Orbán said.

The reason Hungary joined the NATO defence alliance was on the basis that the alliance would come to the defence of member states should they be attacked. “Attacking others together or conducting military action in third countries has always been out of the question.” Hungary wants to stick to NATO’s original mission, he said.

Orbán said leaders in Brussels “talk about this war as if it was theirs”.

PM Viktor Orbán mixed society1
PM Orbán in Brussels. Photo: MTI

After a period of sending equipment, then weapons and vehicles, “now they are talking about having to send soldiers because they are losing their war.” He added that NATO was going the same way.

“Ukrainians are suffering terribly, hundreds of thousands are dying.” At the same time, Orbán said the war was one between Slavic peoples and “not our war”. The war should be ended with a ceasefire and peace negotiations, he said. “Hungary wants to stay out of this war,” he added.

As long as Hungary has a national government, it will not get involved in the war on either side, he said.

While the EU has no joint army, and member states are not looking to interfere in the war as a joint force, “they want to finance it under a European umbrella”, he said.

It is important, however, that European leaders “don’t send monies belonging to member states, especially to Hungary, to Ukraine,” he said. Hungary is working to prevent funding that the country is entitled to from landing in Ukraine, he added.

Regarding the Middle East, Orbán said that everyone would do better were the conflict to simmer down.

European leaders and citizens “sense, correctly, that the world has become a dangerous place, that the Middle East has become a war zone”. The main fear is that the war against a terrorist organisation should escalate into an inter-state war, he said.

Meanwhile, the Balkans had become “a place of unrest and unresolved issues”, he said. The situation required strategic calm, he added.

Orbán said his view was that those conflicts “should be handled differently”. In the Middle East, everything possible should be done to avoid the conflict escalating into a war that encompasses the entire region, he said.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, Orbán said European governments were all pro-war, with the exception of Hungary and the Vatican.

“Hungary must persevere because I expect the European pro-war approach to crumble,” he said. “An increasing number of people in European democracies realise that the conflict has no solution in the battlefield,” he said.

Democracy must take back the reigns and achieve a ceasefire, start negotiations and “give the least money possible to Ukraine in a situation when Europe itself is battling serious difficulties,” he said.

While “Ukrainians have it the hardest”, Europe’s middle class was also suffering, he said, adding that competitiveness was deteriorating, and there was no money for the green transition or Western Balkans enlargement.

Europe, he said, was ploughing far less money into its economy than the US and China was into theirs.

On the topic of the European parliamentary election, Orbán said election campaigns were “a time for clear and honest talk”. He said he was “convinced” that voters would push their governments towards peace. “We just have to persevere until then.”

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said freedom of speech was “in bad shape” in Western Europe. “In liberal societies, the institutions shaping public opinion – the media, universities, research intstitutions, foundations and politicians – have become homogenous, and say more or less the same thing.”
Given any two German newspapers, whether on the left or right, “you’ll read exactly the same thing on important issues”, he said.

Orbán said western Europe was beset by “opinion-bludgeoning” beyond the comprehension of the average Hungarian, coupled with day-to-day oppression.

He said it was one thing to ban a campaign event and another to sack someone if their expressed opinion did not coincide with the official position. Posting on Facebook carried risks of such an outcome, he added.

In Hungary, Orbán said, publicly expressed opinions were conservative or liberal, but no one would suffer negative consequences for expressing them.

Meanwhile, the prime minister said that European leaders were trying to manage migration rather than stopping it.

“They are conducting elegant legal arguments, but actually they are implementing the Soros plan,” Orbán said in the interview.

Orbán said that while many were insisting that the Soros plan did not exist, the American-Hungarian financier “wrote his six-point plan himself in 2015”.

He said the plan called for 1 million migrants to be allowed into Europe every year, and that the EU should take out a loan and issue bonds to finance the operation. Also, Orbán said that the Soros plan conceived of “security zones” to be set up in the countries of origin of the migrants to ensure their passage to Europe.

The Hungarian government’s position was, he added, that “no one can tell Hungarians whom they want to allow into the country”.

The important point about migration, he said, was whether a migrant was allowed to remain in the country while their application was assessed. “This is the key to everything.”

In the case of a negative decision, migrants would never go home, he said, as repatriation programmes were successful in only a quarter or a fifth of cases. This is why people applying for asylum must wait outside the borders, he added.

“If a country does not state this, it cannot stop migration,” Orbán said.

Referring to the upcoming European Parliament elections, Orbán said that amid the many “sub-issues and problems in European life, the most important is the war”, adding that “the bureaucrats in Brussels and the Hungarian left wing” were “pro-war”.

“We’re pro-peace,” Orbán said, adding that what was at stake in the election was whether Europe would be for peace or for war.

The incumbent Brussels leadership, he said, had “failed in all its important goals, so they don’t deserve another chance”.

The prime minister said that in an the election campaign it was the time to fight rather than speculate, adding that “you must fight the opponent”, and this is why the ruling parties were launching their campaign on Friday.

On the topic of farmer protests in Europe, Orbán said they were justifiably rebelling because the EU represented Ukrainian oligarchs and large US companies and their interests over and above those of European farmers. Ukrainian “grain dumping” was one of the unwelcome consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war, he added.

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Fidesz: NATO shifted its stance on war in Ukraine and it’s dangerous

Official Photo of the NATO Ministers of Defence and Sweden

It is “concerning” that NATO has shifted its policy direction on the war in Ukraine and is preparing “to get involved” in the conflict on Ukraine’s side, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday.

NATO in the Ukraine war

Gergely Gulyas told a government press briefing that NATO before had only been commenting on war-related developments in Ukraine but had not become “an active participant” in the conflict. The alliance had also rejected the possibility of intervening in the war, citing a threat of a third world war, he added.

“But there has been a sharp and negative shift taking place” in NATO’s policy, said Gulyas. He said that the draft of a planned NATO-Ukraine mission had become known to the public, suggesting that NATO would “get involved in the conflict on Ukraine’s side”. NATO plans to set up a 100 billion dollar fund for supporting military training and coordinating weapons deliveries, Gulyas said.

“Hungary, as a NATO ally, is seriously concerned over the matter because Hungary considers NATO a defence alliance,” Gulyas said.

At its meeting on Tuesday, the government analysed the international political and military situation, he said. “We are in a very dangerous moment,” said Gulyas, adding that developments in global politics in the next six months would be crucial in deciding whether the world and Europe would be heading towards war or peace.

Gulyas: EP made ‘wrong decision’ by approving new migration pact

The European Parliament has made the “wrong decision” by endorsing the new migration pact, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Gergely Gulyas told a press briefing that the fact that the legislation had passed “with only a 55-56 percent majority in the EP where 70-80 percent of lawmakers are pro-migration” showed “how extremely bad the proposal” was.

“Central Europe shouldn’t have to suffer the mistakes of western Europe’s social development,” Gulyas said, stressing that Hungary will not accept any European decision that would “shift this problem onto central Europe and Hungary”.

Hungary, he added, rejected the mandatory redistribution of migrants and the rule of having to pay compensation instead. “This decision can’t be implemented in its current form, it won’t help Europe or the societies suffering from migration,” he said.

Gulyas said Hungary would challenge any European decision in order to protect itself from the harmful effects of migration.

Nagy: Govt to introduce five-point action plan in agriculture

The government has decided to introduce a five-point action plan to handle the situation that has developed in Europe’s agricultural sector, Istvan Nagy, the minister of agriculture, said on Thursday.

Nagy told a regular government press briefing that comprehensive reporting obligation would be introduced on all products whose imports from Ukraine are banned, no matter what country they originate from. The government has also made arrangements to ensure that area- and livestock-based subsidies would be paid by the State Treasury by May 31 this year. Nagy said the government has also decided to provide by 2026 an additional up to 45 billion forints (EUR 115m) for the Agrarian Szechenyi Card scheme.

The government will increase to 90 percent the tax refund threshold on diesel fuel used in agriculture which Nagy said could leave an annual 1 billion forint extra support with farmers.

“In the current situation the role of government help will increase in the sector, in areas including increased transparency on imports, subsidies, credit financing and future developments,” he added.

Intervention is needed as a result of the serious excess supply and significant drop in prices in the sector’s market, he said. The reason is a European Union decision made in 2022, under which Ukraine is allowed to export agricultural products to the EU duty-free and without restrictions, he said.

“Ukrainian products have entered the markets of EU countries in large volume, significantly limiting the sales opportunities of the individual member states,” the minister said, adding that “it seems obvious that Brussels and the European Commission have let down European farmers and instead support the Ukrainian oligarchs”.

Varga: Hungary’s economic growth forecast at 2.5 pc this year, 4.1 pc in 2025

According to the government’s forecast, Hungary’s economy will grow by 2.5 percent this year and by 4.1 percent in 2025, the finance minister told a government press briefing on Thursday.

Given the war situation, the EU is emerging from the crisis at a slower than expected pace, the German economy has been ailing for quite a while and export markets are also weak, which is why Hungary has planned its macroeconomic path for such a situation, Mihaly Varga said. Hungary’s economy will return to a growth-path this year with the country’s GDP expected to increase by 2.5 percent, he said.

Economic growth is expected to accelerate in the second half of 2024 which will favourably impact the central budget, Varga said, adding that a 4.1 percent GPD growth projected for next year was well-based.

Gergely Gulyas, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, told the same press briefing that the government would submit next year’s draft budget to parliament after Nov. 5.

Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said that a decision would be made when the budget is submitted in the autumn concerning the personal tax exemption of mothers with three children.

He also said the rules for the pension premium were clear, and the extra pension would only be paid out if economic growth reached 3.5 percent or above.

Concerning a meeting with central bank governor Gyorgy Matolcsy in March, he said the European Central Bank had approved the amendment of the law on the central bank, and further consultations were needed.

He also said that the net price of fuel in Hungary was mid-field in regional comparison. “Instead of discussing taxes, production costs must be reduced in order to further reduce prices,” he said. He also said that efforts were being made to help growth from the side of energy costs.

In response to a question about reducing the excise tax, he said the amendment of tax laws was not on the agenda, adding: “The government will assess all the circumstances but does not plan to change the main structure of tax regulations.”

Concerning the 15 percent increase in internet and phone fees, he said while inflation was continuing to fall, price developments also depended on market trends, but the government would continue monitoring prices.

Concerning hospital debts, he said the government was continually monitoring the issue and consultations were being held with the interior minister.

In response to additional questions, he said that VAT revenues had increased against expectations and current projections showed that household consumption would increase by 2.3 percent and overall consumption by 2.7 percent this year.

In response to a question concerning a projected rise in local government deficits to 108 billion forints overall this year, he said the government had a single task: to ensure the stability of local government finances. Any requests for loans would be assessed by the interior ministry, and the request would be supported if the local government in question were able to repay the loan, he added.

Varga said defence spending in this year’s budget will amount to 1,700 billion forints, with a view to ensuring that the military is prepared to react to even the most unexpected situation.

Concerning new taxes proposed by EU leaders and the Belgian prime minister, he said taxation was a national competence and all proposals by Brussels would be assessed by member states. “The framework of the Hungarian tax system is firm, taxes on work and income have been reduced in recent years, and revenue for covering public expenses is generated from consumption-related taxes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Istvan Nagy, the minister of agriculture, said he did not expect growth in agriculture to match last year’s level, largely due to the 2022 drought. This year, too, drought is affecting the southern Great Plains, he said, adding however that he trusted last year’s level could be matched this year.

In response to a question concerning Ukrainian food exports, he confirmed that trade agreements signed so far excluded grains, which had caused the greatest damage. “Hungary will maintain the border seal with Ukraine” as long as wheat is not regulated, he added.

Government spokesperson Eszter Vitalyos announced a programme worth 108 billion forints (EUR 277m) aimed at modernising the energy systems of private homes built before 1990. Under the scheme, grants between 2.5-3.5 million forints will be provided to families to finance the insulation of walls, the replacement of doors, windows and heating systems. Each project is eligible for a non-refundable grant of up to 6 million forints, she said, adding that below-average earners could apply for a higher grant, Vitalyos said.

Responding to questions, Gulyas said Hungary did not wish to participate in re-distribution schemes or to pay to relocate migrants. “This will be a legal debate,” he said, adding that many central European countries were expected to agree with Hungary’s stance. “Cooperation on illegal migration is stable among the Visegrad countries.”

Hungary would only engage in NATO or EU initiatives on the condition that its contribution could not be used to buy weapons, Gulyas said.

On the matter of Chinese police patrolling in Hungary, Gulyas said the country had similar agreements with the Austrian, Slovak and Slovenian authorities. The measure was prompted by large numbers of tourists arriving from those countries, he said, adding that Chinese police were not allowed to take action or use their weapons in Hungary. The number of Chinese tourists has multiplied in Hungary recently, in addition to Chinese already resident in the country, he added.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, Gulyas said the US presidential election would be a key factor in ending the war. “If the US leadership thinks this war should be ended, they have the means to do so,” he said.

Meanwhile, a government report is scheduled to be published on Friday on allegations of graft regarding the reconstruction of Budapest’s landmark Chain Bridge, he said. The report seemed to reinforce the suspicion of corruption, he said, adding that it showed “correlation between public procurement tenders, contracts, the transfer of funds, and suspects’ money withdrawals… The case leads to Budapest City Hall,” he said.

Responding to a question on the budget, Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said budget planning had to respond to changes in the world economy, especially since “the political environment has moved towards war escalation”. The government is not planning to change macroeconomic targets or its plans to cut the public debt, he said. This year’s deficit target would be achievable without further changes to the budget, he added.

Meanwhile, he noted the various approaches of the US presidential candidates to the war in Ukraine. Under the presidency of Donald Trump, Hungary-US ties had prospered, while the Biden administration’s tenure had been marked by cancelling of the bilateral agreement against double taxation, he said.

Regarding postponing investments, Varga said the government had made its recommendations to the ministries. Those postponed involved investments for 2025, but also some stretching out until 2026 or 2027, he said.

The budget deficit came to 2,321 billion forints at the end of the first quarter, he said, with interest payments amounting to 2,100 billion, 600 billion more than the same period in 2023, he added.

On the subject of the state’s purchase of Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport, Varga said the funds for the purchase had been set aside and would not influence the deficit. “The purchase is a strategic goal,” he added.

When drafting the budget, the government will have to weigh ways to preserve its achievements such as the high employment rate, family subsidies and the value of wages and pensions, he added.

Gulyás’s opinion on Péter Magyar

Péter Magyar was never considered suitable for the post of minister, Gergely Gulyas, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said on Thursday.

In response to a question at a government press briefing about Magyar’s entry into politics, Gulyas said that when in 2018 he was asked by the prime minister to head the Prime Minister’s Office and he was looking for a state secretary for European Union affairs, he had told Magyar that he had considered Magyar’s ex-wife, former justice minister Judit Varga, “eminently suitable” for the role and later for the post of minister.

“But not him. My opinion has not changed since,” he said.

In response to a question on whether an internal investigation has been launched to reveal if Magyar had blackmailed persons under national security protection, including ministers, he said: “As for blackmail, nobody has blackmailed me”.

Referring to a message he had received from Magyar, he said: “I do not like being threatened.” He added that the message in question, however, had “not crossed the line of criminal law”.

“I received a single message this year, which was the only one-sided communication involving Peter Magyar…” he said, referring to a chat group which he said he had since quit. He added that Varga had since “published its essential contents”.

In response to a question concerning whether the Sovereignty Protection Office should investigate the funds Magyar received to organise his events, he said the office would make a decision on the matter, adding that he believed in transparency. “When someone organises what looks like an expensive event, they must give account of their circle of supporters,” he said.

Also asked about the audio recordings made by Magyar in connection with the Volner-Schadl case, he said that Varga had mentioned several times to him that Magyar had been blackmailing him, and “either there [had been] such a recording or there [had not]… Whether the threat was real or not, only Judit Varga could [have judged],” he added.

Asked about whether Gulyas still enjoyed the confidence of the prime minister in light of events surrounding Magyar, he replied that he had not noticed any change in his attitude towards him.

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FM Szijjártó: NATO in state of ‘war psychosis’

szijjártó brussels nato

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Szijjártó: NATO must strengthen counter-terrorism

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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FM Szijjártó: Hungary proud member of NATO, world’s strongest defence alliance

szijjártó nato

Hungary is a “proud and reliable” member of the world’s strongest defence alliance, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday, pledging that Hungary wanted to continue to contribute to the security of the Euro-Atlantic community.

Speaking at a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the foundation of NATO in Brussels, Szijjártó said Hungary’s NATO membership “is a coronation of the desire and struggle for freedom of generations of Hungarians,” according to a statement issued by his ministry.

Twenty-five years ago, in 1999, Hungary was able to re-join “the community of free and sovereign nations of the Euro-Atlantic world, where we always belonged at heart … but forty years of communist oppression kept us physically away from it,” he said.

Szijjártó: Hungary joined NATO 25 years ago

“We are proud of our predecessors, who never gave up hope, not even in the darkest years of communist dictatorship, when the Hungarian people was left completely alone,” the minister said.

“Today, we are proud members of the world’s strongest defence alliance. And we are also proud to be a reliable ally, contributing to the security of our community,” Péter Szijjártó said.

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Hungarian minister made his standpoint clear about NATO’s role in the Ukraine war – UPDATED

FM Szijjártó shared when the Hungarian parliament might vote about Sweden's NATO accession (Copy)

Hungary refuses to back any proposal at the upcoming meeting of NATO foreign ministers that would push NATO closer to war or turn it into an offensive alliance, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on Wednesday.

“NATO is a defense alliance,” he said in Brussels before the meeting. “Hungary will reject any proposal that would transform it into an offensive alliance as this would lead to the serious danger of escalation.”

“The war is horrendous; naturally we condemn it,” he said. “But let’s make it clear over and over again: this isn’t our war. This isn’t Hungary’s war, and it isn’t NATO’s war either.”

The minister said the two-day meeting’s vital goal should be to prevent the war in Ukraine from becoming a war involving NATO.

He said everything must be done “to avoid a direct conflict between NATO and Russia in the following period.”

Szijjártó warned that proposals were on the table that “would definitely cross some of the lines that have been red up to now”. He also referred to “statements made in recent weeks by Western European politicians” on the possibility of sending soldiers to Ukraine, saying that Hungary rejected any proposal that would escalate the war.

“We hope that common sense and the desire for peace and security will prevail at … the meeting over the next two days,” he said.

Orbán meets former Italian PM Letta

Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Wednesday consulted with Enrico Letta, Italy’s former prime minister who has been tasked with reporting on the state of the single market, Orban’s press chief said in a statement. The two officials discussed plans for Hungary’s EU presidency in the second half of the year, focusing on restoring the EU’s competitiveness. At the meeting held in the prime minister’s office in Budapest, Orban and Letta also discussed the possibility of expanding internal markets to include new areas such as defence policy. Other topics discussed included the EU’s enlargement strategy.

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UPDATE 1 Foreign minister: ‘High time central Europe delegated NATO secretary general’

Hungary opposes an increase in NATO’s coordination role in weapons deliveries to Ukraine and training Ukrainian soldiers, and will not participate in the planning, implementation or financing of such activities, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.

The ministry cited Péter Szijjártó as telling a press conference during a break in a NATO foreign ministers’ council meeting that the government’s main goal was to protect Hungary from the war in Ukraine. As a result, it considers NATO’s former decision very important under which the organisation is not part of the armed conflict and would do everything to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia, he added.

He welcomed the fact that all previous proposals within NATO had respected these red lines and warned that the latest proposal would bring the organisation closer to war.

When the proposal was discussed, Hungary asked the other member states to consider that coordination of military support had been done so far without the involvement of the alliance, he said.

“Since the majority of member states, I could say 31 of them, agree with having to increase NATO’s coordination role in these two areas … planning work will now get started,” he said.

“But we have made it clear that Hungary does not want to and will not participate in this,” Szijjártó said. “Hungary will therefore not participate even in the planning phase,” he added.

“We will not participate in the consequent tasks and actions, and we will not provide financial support, either,” he said.

“No activity can take place on the territory of Hungary … which results from an increase in NATO’s coordination role in training and weapons deliveries,” he added.

He said the government maintained the position that it would not participate in weapons deliveries and would not send soldiers to the war in Ukraine. “No Hungarian soldier will participate in such tasks and the monies of Hungarian taxpayers must not be used for such purposes,” he added.

Since Ukraine will not be invited to NATO’s Washington summit, he described the proposal as a substitute action, adding that it was “very dangerous and expensive”.

“This is why I made Hungary’s position clear once again,” he said. “We are concerned that such proposals only bring NATO closer to the war than ever before, and we do not agree with increasing NATO’s coordination role either in the training of Ukrainian soldiers or in the delivery of weapons, so Hungary will not participate in it,” he reiterated.

He said the strategy that Ukraine would achieve significant success on the battlefield thanks to western weapons deliveries had clearly failed, and it only resulted in an increase in the number of military equipment in destructive warfare.

He added that Hungary was a reliable and important ally, as proven by an increase in military spending to above 2 percent of GDP last year, which he said had only been achieved by eight member states. Hungary also fares well in spending 20 percent of its military budget on developments, he added.

UPDATE 2: Hungary not to participate in activities increasing NATO role in Ukraine

Hungary opposes an increase in NATO’s coordination role in weapons deliveries to Ukraine and training Ukrainian soldiers, and will not participate in the planning, implementation or financing of such activities, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.

The ministry cited Péter Szijjártó as telling a press conference during a break in a NATO foreign ministers’ council meeting that the government’s main goal was to protect Hungary from the war in Ukraine. As a result, it considers NATO’s former decision very important under which the organisation is not part of the armed conflict and would do everything to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia, he added.

He welcomed the fact that all previous proposals within NATO had respected these red lines and warned that the latest proposal would bring the organisation closer to war.

When the proposal was discussed, Hungary asked the other member states to consider that coordination of military support had been done so far without the involvement of the alliance, he said.

“Since the majority of member states, I could say 31 of them, agree with having to increase NATO’s coordination role in these two areas … planning work will now get started,” he said.

“But we have made it clear that Hungary does not want to and will not participate in this,” Szijjártó said. “Hungary will therefore not participate even in the planning phase,” he added.

“We will not participate in the consequent tasks and actions, and we will not provide financial support, either,” he said.

“No activity can take place on the territory of Hungary … which results from an increase in NATO’s coordination role in training and weapons deliveries,” he added.

He said the government maintained the position that it would not participate in weapons deliveries and would not send soldiers to the war in Ukraine. “No Hungarian soldier will participate in such tasks and the monies of Hungarian taxpayers must not be used for such purposes,” he added.

Since Ukraine will not be invited to NATO’s Washington summit, he described the proposal as a substitute action, adding that it was “very dangerous and expensive”.

“This is why I made Hungary’s position clear once again,” he said. “We are concerned that such proposals only bring NATO closer to the war than ever before, and we do not agree with increasing NATO’s coordination role either in the training of Ukrainian soldiers or in the delivery of weapons, so Hungary will not participate in it,” he reiterated.

He said the strategy that Ukraine would achieve significant success on the battlefield thanks to western weapons deliveries had clearly failed, and it only resulted in an increase in the number of military equipment in destructive warfare.

He added that Hungary was a reliable and important ally, as proven by an increase in military spending to above 2 percent of GDP last year, which he said had only been achieved by eight member states. Hungary also fares well in spending 20 percent of its military budget on developments, he added.

NATO to expand innovation network in Hungary

NATO’s DIANA innovation program is expanding its network with new sites in Hungary, the defence ministry said on Monday.

In a statement, the ministry cited an announcement from the DIANA initiative that it will link accelerator and test centers in Hungary to the alliance’s innovation network.

NATO DIANA was established to use defence-based innovation to create value-added products that can be useful in both the civilian and defence sectors, the ministry said.

Hungary is joining NATO’s defence industry innovation network with an accelerator and several test centers with the aim of boosting both domestic and international R+D cooperation within the alliance, they said.

The ministry said the dual-use nature of the solutions being developed contributes to domestic industrial growth. It added that accelerating innovation would allow domestic businesses to establish themselves at a NATO level, leading to job and economic growth.

The ministry said the first DIANA accelerator will operate under the name VIKI-NOKIA as part of the partnership between the Defense Innovation Research Institute (VIKI) and Nokia Solutions and Networks.

Meanwhile, the accreditation of six DIANA test centers will further strengthen Hungary’s role within NATO, the ministry said, noting that the test centers have been established by the University of Pecs, Budapest’s Óbuda University, BHE Bonn Hungary Electronics, Alverad Technology Focus, ITSec Area and Nokia Bell Labs.

The ministry noted that the ZalaZONE vehicle test track ZalaZONE Research and Technology Centre is also a DIANA-accredited site.

Imre Porkolab, the ministerial commissioner for defence innovation, said Hungary’s increased presence in the DIANA initiative would advance knowledge transfers and contribute to the success of the applications of domestic innovators.

The statement cited Deeph Chana, Managing Director of DIANA, as saying that the broad scale and diversity of DIANA network partners accelerated the development and introduction of innovative solutions for defence, security and peace.

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No veto: EU Peace Facility top-up adopted with Hungarian constructive abstention – UPDATE🔄

EU Peace Facility

EU foreign affairs ministers agreed on Monday to top up the European Peace Facility with 5 billion euros in connection with funding for Ukraine, a decision made with Hungary’s constructive abstention, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on the sidelines of a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.

EU Peace Facility

EU member states can abstain from voting on a particular action without blocking it.

The minister said “the price” of Hungary’s agreement not to block the top-up was a change in the rules to exempt Hungary from involvement in financing arms deliveries.

“This means that we have to pay our share of 50 million euros, but we can determine the purpose of its use,” he stated.

He added that several important goals could be discussed in light of this, such as strengthening the stability of the Sahel region to combat migration and support the Western Balkans.

Szijjártó lamented that EU leaders “did not grasp that the EU’s Ukraine strategy has failed.” The cause of that reluctance could be that such recognition could raise the issue of taking responsibility for the damages Europe has incurred.

Referring to statements made earlier in the week concerning the possibility of deploying European troops to Ukraine, Szijjártó appealed to Western European politicians to refrain from such statements, calling them “extremely dangerous and fear-mongering.”

Anthony Blinken

Noting that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also joined part of the meeting via video call, Szijjártó said he had reminded his colleagues of an earlier NATO decision that “everything must be done to avoid direct confrontation with Russia”.

“Western and Eastern European statements that don’t exclude deploying troops … are in clear violation of that joint NATO decision,”

he said, adding that no member had initiated a review of that decision.

He said,

“I expressed my hope to the US secretary of state that NATO will never send troops” to Ukraine.

Increasingly militant statements from the EU or its member states would only make the situation worse, “summoning the specter of a third world war,” he said.

“An EU state sending ground troops to Ukraine would envelope the entire continent in conflagration… We are of the view that this is a grave violation of Article 5, as NATO is a defence alliance,” he said.

Ukrainian grain

As Ukraine’s neighbour, Hungary has experienced the consequences of the war first-hand, he said. “Besides the inflow of refugees, our agriculture was nearly brought to its knees by low-quality Ukrainian grain flooding central Europe,” he said.

As Polish farmers blocked the roads from Ukraine to that country protesting against the grain glut, much of the freight traffic was rerouted to Hungary, increasing waiting times and the workload on the Hungarian-Ukrainian border, he said.

On the border at Fényeslitke, Hungary has set up the largest transfer facility for Ukrainian cargo in international comparison, “only the European liberal mainstream continues to forget” such achievements, he said.

With a view to easing the pressure on the border, Szijjártó noted he had talks with Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, at the weekend, and they agreed to open another border crossing between Nagyhodos in Hungary and Velyka Palad’ (Nagypalád) in Ukraine and to develop the crossing in Beregsurány further.

“If there is a country constantly facing the tragic consequences of the war … and taking on its burderns, and has the greatest interest in swiftly bringing about peace, it is Hungary,” he said.

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France leads the voices raising the threat of world war, says Hungarian FM Szijjártó

ukraine

With the war going on for more than two years in Ukraine, the situation is the most critical yet in Europe, and the “specter of a world war looms ever larger,” the foreign minister said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.

Péter Szijjártó said on Facebook that the US Secretary of State will also join the meeting through a virtual call.

“Western European leaders must grasp that their strategy regarding the war has failed and they would have achieved a ceasefire long ago had they invested as much into brokering peace as they did into weapon deliveries,” he said.

Meanwhile, he insisted France was leading the voices “stoking the danger of world war”. Sending land troops to Ukraine threatened with regional escalation, and was “diametrically opposed to NATO decisions so far”, he added.

“We don’t want a war in Europe, and we hope our European colleagues will also cease playing with fire,” he said.

As we wrote a few days earlier, in an interview with Le Monde, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Hungary “knows the consequences of occupation by a fascist regime”, but its messages to Ukraine are radical. He also said that the world should have put Putin in his place at the beginning of the war, details HERE.

Also we wrote earlier, the Russian Embassy in Budapest issued a war statement.

15 March in Washington: Hungary is committed to the NATO alliance

15 March in Washington_Hungary is committed to the NATO alliance

The March 15 celebrations, marking the 176th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1848-49 revolution and war of independence, ended on Friday with an official commemoration organized for members of the local diaspora at the Hungarian embassy in Washington.

Ambassador Szabolcs Takács noted that traditionally Hungarians living in and around the American capital are invited to celebrate on March 15, and this was also the case this year.

At the ceremony, Emese Latkóczy, the director and one of the founders of the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation, received the Knight’s Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit, for her work.

Previously during the day, local Hungarian organizations held a commemoration at the Kossuth House in Washington, the leaders of the scout troop, the Catholic and Reformed communities, and the Kossuth Foundation laying a wreath at the memorial plaque of Lajos Kossuth. Péter Pál Schmitt, the deputy head of mission, laid a wreath at the Kossuth memorial on behalf of the Hungarian embassy.

Sándor Végh, the president of the foundation that operates the Kossuth House, noted that Lajos Kossuth had visited Washington in December 1851 to gain support for the Hungarian cause.

The Tisza Dance Ensemble, made up of American and Hungarian members, gave a festive show at the Kossuth House.

The March 15 commemorations coincided with another commemoration held a few hundred kilometres from Washington, at the NATO command in Norfolk, where Hungary, Poland and Czechia commemorated the 25th anniversary of their NATO membership.

At this event, Ambassador Takács drew attention to Hungary’s commitment to the NATO alliance, and said Hungary’s budget contribution to NATO serves the purpose of making the organisation a truly defensive alliance with a military force that is a deterrent, but one that is in service of peace.

The March 15 commemorations began on Wednesday in the Capitol building, where Ambassador Takács and Congresswoman Carol Miller laid a wreath at the statue of Lajos Kossuth.

Hungarians living in Washington will hold the commemorative Kossuth run on Sunday, organized by the Kossuth Foundation.

Read also:

  • Streets and cities preserve the name of Kossuth in US – Read more HERE
  • 500 drones draw over Chain Bridge in Budapest, details and spectacular photos in THIS article

US-Hungary relations at new low: Dialogue with Hungary not efficient, US will act – UPDATED

david pressman us ambassador

US Ambassador David Pressman delivered a long speech on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Hungary’s accession to NATO. He underlined multiple times that the United States is for dialogue and cooperation; however, this often doesn’t work with the current Hungarian government. In times like this, he said, the United States acts because that’s all the Orbán cabinet understands. Judging by his speech, it is clear that the two governments have reached a point again where dialogue is no longer enough.

“The United States cares about Hungary, we care about Hungarians, we admire and are in awe of your culture and history, and we want a close relationship.  We’re not really asking for much: transparency, dialogue, nonpartisanship, and commitment to democracy would suffice,” David Pressman, US Ambassador to Hungary, said on Thursday in Budapest on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Hungary’s accession to NATO.

25th anniversary of Hungary’s accession to NATO

The venue was symbolic: it was the former CEU building on Nádori Street in Budapest. Pressman reminded the audience that the university had been forced to move its headquarters to Vienna because of measures taken by Viktor Orbán’s government in connection with opening to the East.

In his speech, the Ambassador recalled that the Hungarian Prime Minister interpreted NATO accession as a correction of a historical injustice and stressed the country’s commitment to democracy and the rule of law. Pressman contrasted this with the problematic policy decisions taken by the current Hungarian government, such as its hostile rhetoric towards the United States, its seizure of the media, corruption and its attempts to dismantle the rule of law.

The Ambassador stressed that the United States will continue to seek dialogue with Hungary, but will not accept behaviour that is contrary to democratic values and the principles of NATO. As an example, he cited that they were forced to restrict access to ESTA for Hungarian citizens because the Hungarian government refused to address security concerns raised by the US side, 24.hu writes.

Close ties with Moscow, peace plan based on fantasy

Pressman also pointed out that the United States and its allies are concerned about the Hungarian government’s close ties with Moscow. He remarked that instead of playing a prominent role in supporting Ukraine, the Orbán cabinet is representing Russian interests and creating tensions within NATO. The ambassador also criticised the Hungarian peace plan:

“Does Hungary truly believe that if our partners and allies stop our military support for Ukraine as it fights on its own territory for its very survival, Russia would then come to the negotiating table? Or would Russia do what it has done elsewhere and seize more of their land, pillage more of their property, deprive more of their people of freedom, kidnap more of their children? The Hungarian policy is based on a fantasy that disarming Ukraine will stop Putin. History shows it would do the reverse. It is not a proposal for peace; it is capitulation.”

Accusing others of interfering in internal offers – Hungary does just that

The ambassador also recalled that Hungary regularly accuses Western countries of trying to interfere in its internal affairs, but Pressman said it is the other way around. This is illustrated by the fact that Viktor Orbán recently visited the US, where he did not meet with members of the US government, but did meet with Donald Trump, the challenger to US President Joe Biden. Moreover, Orbán openly supports Trump in the presidential election, while it is up to the American people to decide on the US president, Pressman noted.

Three steps are needed for the future, Pressman underlined. First, the Hungarian government must decide whether it wants to improve its relations with the United States. Second, security concerns must be taken seriously and not used for political ends. Third, the US will continue to be pragmatic in its relations with Hungary, urging that the political mandate for fruitful discussions be in place.

“How we speak about each other matters. There is room to criticize – no government is perfect, including my own.  The United States’ great strength has been our readiness to confront our shortcomings and debate them openly. While the Hungarian government’s wild rhetoric in state-controlled media may incite passion, or ignite an electoral base, the choice to issue, on a daily basis, dangerously unhinged anti-American messaging is a policy choice, and it risks changing Hungary’s relationship with America,” Pressman said.

UPDATE:  Hungary ‘regards US with great respect’, says official

Hungary regards the United States with great respect and has always done so, Tamas Menczer, the state secretary for bilateral relations, said on Facebook in connection with a speech delivered on Thursday by David Pressman, the US ambassador to Hungary. “But today’s speech was not worthy of an ambassador; it was rather a speech of a left-wing political activist,” Menczer said. Pressman gave a speech in Budapest entitled “On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Hungary’s accession to the NATO Alliance”.

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