Not only is the NATO summit being held in Brussels today, but the two-day summit of the leaders of the European Union is also starting. According to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Hungary's national interests must be protected in these two days: we must prevent our country from drifting into a war conflict, and we must prevent proposals that want to extend sanctions to the energy sector. According to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, NATO's position on the war is currently the same as the Hungarian position - the goal is to ensure that this does not change.
"NATO's current official position on the war in Ukraine fully coincides with the Hungarian national interest: NATO is not a belligerent, and we must do everything to prevent it from becoming one. As an alliance, NATO does not supply weapons, and we must ensure that this war does not spread beyond the borders of Ukraine," said Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on his Facebook page before the NATO summit, who hopes that even before Thursday's NATO summit in Brussels this remains the official position.
"Unfortunately, there have been several dangerous proposals in the past." We must speak clearly and honestly: closing the airspace over Ukraine would lead to an air war, and deploying "peacekeepers" to Ukraine would lead to a ground war between NATO and Russia. The most important task is to avoid this. We will do everything tomorrow to protect Hungary and guarantee that our country cannot get involved in this war - concluded Péter Szijjártó.
We have to protect Hungary's national interests, we have to stand up in Brussels in the next two days, Viktor Orbán in his video message published on Wednesday. Before the NATO and EU summit starting on Thursday, the Prime Minister said: we must prevent us from being dragged into a war conflict, and we must prevent the proposals that want to extend the sanctions to the energy sector, and thus put us in a difficult, perhaps impossible situation they would drag Hungary down - it was said in the M1 News.
"We have to protect Hungary's national interests, campaign here, campaign there. In the next two days, we have to stand up in Brussels," said the Prime Minister.
The election is not only important for all of us, it is of crucial importance. We know that we must protect everything that Hungary has managed to achieve in the past twelve years, Viktor Orbán declared in his video message. The prime minister said that at this time they should focus on the election with every nerve and second, but now they have to go to Brussels for two days, because there will be a NATO and European Union summit, and there are proposals on the table against which Hungary's interests must be protected.
In the photo published by the Prime Minister's Press Office, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán inspects the Hungarian-Ukrainian border station in Barabás on March 18, 2022. To the right is Attila Tilki, the Fidesz parliamentary representative of the region. (Photo: MTI/Zoltán Fischer)
"We must prevent them from being drawn into a war conflict, we must say no to proposals that would result in an air war with Russia, and we must also prevent proposals that would extend sanctions against Russian aggression to the energy sector, and so it is difficult, maybe they would put Hungary in an impossible situation," emphasized the prime minister.
Péter Szijjártó summarized the Hungarian government's obligations in connection with the war in Ukraine in three points in Geneva, before the UN Human Rights Council.
"The Hungarian government must perform three important tasks. The first is to guarantee the safety of Hungary and the Hungarian people. The second is to guarantee that Hungary will not drift or become involved in this war, and the third is to guarantee that the price of this war will not be paid by the Hungarian people," said the minister.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade spoke about the fact that all of these conditions must be met, so that the Hungarian government guarantees the enforcement of one of the most basic human rights for its own citizens, that they can live in peace and security in their own country.
The minister also said that the Hungarian government is doing everything to ensure that the war does not spread beyond the borders of Ukraine. The minister called the closure of the airspace over Ukraine and the sending of peacekeeping troops to the war zone a risky idea.
He said that the Hungarian government has redeployed significant forces of the national defense to the eastern border region, and in order to minimize risks, it does not send soldiers and weapons, and does not allow the transfer of lethal weapons through Hungary. Regarding the elimination of Russia's energy dependence, he emphasized that the transition not only from one day to the next, but even from one year to the next is not realistic. Péter Szijjártó emphasized: Hungary accepts all those fleeing the war in Ukraine, but still keeps its borders closed to illegal immigrants.
The NATO summit begins this morning, in addition to the leaders of the organization's member states, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi also join the meeting via video conference.
This will be followed by a two-day summit of European Union leaders - tentatively scheduled to begin in the early afternoon - in which US President Joe Biden will also participate.
Source: hirado.hu
Featured image: euronews
