Viktor Orbán is of great importance in Europe, the Hungarian prime minister is an outstanding politician in the European sense as well - said Sámuel Ágoston Mráz in a statement to Origo, who evaluated Friday's Johnson-Orbán meeting in London.
On Friday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London. The meeting was given special significance by the fact that the British Prime Minister was the second European politician to meet his Hungarian counterpart after Brexit, after his Irish neighbor. During the consultation, there were important topics, so the parties discussed the possibilities of future cooperation between Great Britain and the Visegrad countries, as well as issues related to the energy industry and the defense industry.
Sámuel Ágoston Mráz, director of the Nézőpont Institute, explained the meeting by saying that Boris Johnson is looking for Britain's place in the world after Brexit and is trying to make his independent foreign policy a success. In doing so, he tries to establish good diplomatic relations as widely as possible. The political analyst drew attention to the fact that this applies not only to Europe, but also, for example, to the United States, Japan, and thus to the Asian region. "Boris Johnson is trying to increase his foreign policy leeway and is looking for the right ways to do so," he stated.
It is a rather important message in terms of European politics that the British prime minister did not start cooperation with the Franco-German axis, but with the emerging region of the continent, the Visegrad Four, he pointed out.
According to him, this is also of particular importance because, from July 1st, Hungary and the Hungarian Prime Minister will be the leaders of the V4. "In Hungarian, this meeting was addressed to the Hungarian Prime Minister and the Visegrad region represented by him." This shows that Great Britain is "seeking special cooperation after Brexit" with these countries, he analyzed the situation.
When asked how he evaluates the fact that Boris Johnson was the second European leader after the Irish to receive his Hungarian official partner, Mráz Ágoston Sámuel answered that "this has a very strong and serious message in European politics". According to him, the importance of the British-Hungarian meeting was clearly increased by the fact that "Irish-British relations have local importance". "At the meeting two weeks ago, mostly local matters (Northern Ireland, customs union) were discussed, yesterday's meeting was much more decisive from the point of view of European-British relations," he underlined.
Sámuel Ágoston Mráz, head of the Nézőpont Group. Source: Facebook/Sámuel Ágoston Mráz
The head of the Nézőpont Group briefly touched on the fact that two extremely important areas, the energy industry and the defense industry, were also discussed at the Johnson-Orbán meeting on Friday. He first mentioned Hungary's long-term gas purchase agreement with Shell. "Rosszakarói regularly accuses the Hungarian government of deliberately building Russian dependence. This position has now been completely refuted," he explained.
According to the analyst, this also shows what Viktor Orbán emphasized several times before, that the foreign policy of the Hungarian government is about protecting sovereignty. He pointed out that Hungary built alternative gas pipelines in the last decade precisely so that its good relationship with Russia would not turn into a kind of dependent relationship. "Those who today criticize the pragmatism of Russian-Hungarian relations have previously built a dependency on Russia," he said, referring to the foreign policy of the left-wing governments before 2010.
The analyst considers another important and forward-looking element of Friday's meeting to be that the two countries are planning military industrial cooperation in the future. "Since the details of this have not been made public, this can be considered a statement of intent for the time being. However, anyone who has watched the steps taken by the Hungarian government over the past three years can see that the country is consciously developing its military industry, so the planned cooperation fits well into the picture," he added.
Sámuel Ágoston Mráz also approached yesterday's bilateral meeting from the point of view of the European People's Party (EPP). According to him, the fact that the leader of the British Conservative Party, which left the European conservative party family more than a decade ago, met with the president of Fidesz, which has just broken with the EPP, has "no great significance, but still subtle symbolism". He considers it a natural process that with the shift of the European People's Party to the left, European right-wing parties and their representatives are looking for cooperation.
"These criticisms lack any basis in fact, Viktor Orbán is very important in Europe," stated the analyst, who, when asked how far the repeated claim of the domestic and international left-wing press that the the Hungarian Prime Minister is isolated in European politics.
He emphasized that only the "stupid Hungarian propaganda" is talking about this. He cited as an example that Angela Merkel's successor, CDU President Armin Laschet, recently spoke about the fact that Europe's future can only be built together with Viktor Orbán.
"The Orbán-Johnson meeting also carries this message. Whoever imagines Europe not as the axis of Germany and France, but as the cooperation of the member states of the European Union, is well aware that he must cooperate with the Hungarian Prime Minister and Hungary," concluded Sámuel Ágoston Mráz.
Source: origo.hu
Image source: Prime Minister's Press Office
