Hungary is responding to the changes in the world by following the national interest and strengthening self-defense, and the government is not willing to compromise in this regard, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on Friday in Turin.

According to the ministry's statement, the head of the ministry spoke at the meeting of the Ministerial Committee of the Council of Europe about the huge changes that have taken place in the world in recent years, and cited the coronavirus epidemic, the economic crisis and the outbreak of the war in Ukraine as examples. Therefore, the current policy needs to be re-evaluated. The 21st century will look completely different than we expected, so we have to act differently, he underlined.

Péter Szijjártó stated:

HUNGARY'S RESPONSE TO THE NEW SITUATION IS SELF-DEFENSE, AND THE NATIONAL INTEREST WILL CONTINUE TO BE FIRST, THERE CANNOT BE A COMPROMISE.

"We will follow the national interest in the field of protecting our security, be it our physical, economic or energy supply security, as well as the protection of our Christian religion, culture or families and homes," he said .

The minister emphasized that the armed conflict taking place in neighboring Ukraine poses serious security risks for our country, so it is important that peace return to our region as soon as possible.

We condemn military aggression, we help the victims, we help those who were attacked. But we will not let them drag us into the war or make them pay the price of the war with the Hungarians, he declared.

Speaking about the international sanctions policy, he added: it is important that the punitive measures hurt more those against whom they were ordered.

In connection with another topic, he highlighted: "We do not feel ashamed because we see the family as it was seen in the past thousands of years of Judeo-Christian culture, that the father is a man, the mother is a woman, and the children are raised by their parents, as it is in our constitution we also included it."

He added that Hungary respects when other countries live differently, but this should be mutual. He underlined that if the world will not be able to return to the principle of mutual respect in international cooperation, then the problems, challenges and risks we face will be even more serious.

Source: MTI