We managed to obtain exemptions so that the European Union's ninth sanctions package against Russia does not endanger Hungary's national interests, so new measures affecting the energy sector are not part of it, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on Monday in Brussels.
According to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, at the press conference following the EU foreign affairs council meeting, the head of the department expressed his regret, above all, that the debate was still dominated by punitive measures instead of peace-making, even though it has already been proven that they "have failed and represent a flawed policy".
Despite this, he called it good news that during the negotiations preparing the new sanctions package, the government was able to assert Hungarian interests, so there will be no new measures affecting the energy sector, and nuclear energy was defined as an exception to the ban on providing services in all cases.
" It was important for us that the security of the energy supply could not be jeopardized by the package in any way (...) And according to the current state of things, this was achieved, " he stated.
Péter Szijjártó reported that, according to the plans, 141 private individuals and 47 organizations will be added to the group of those affected by asset freezes and travel bans.
He underlined: the government has requested the deletion of several persons from this list, because in their case, the step would pose a serious risk in terms of the impossibility of the still open communication channels, and negotiations are necessary to end the war, without which even the hope of peace is abandoned.
" And whoever gives up efforts for peace will end up on the wrong side of history, " he said. The minister then said that the council had increased the resources of the European Peace Framework by two billion euros, so the community could finance the provision of arms to Ukraine by the member states with that amount.
He emphasized that this framework should also finance projects that help strengthen the stability and defense capacities of external partners, such as the countries of the Western Balkans, North Africa and the Middle East, thereby reducing the immigration pressure on Europe.
According to his information, he therefore indicated to his colleagues at the council meeting that Hungary will henceforth apply the approach of geographical balance.
" We will not allow the programs necessary to prevent illegal migration to fall out of this framework in the future, " he warned.
Péter Szijjártó pointed out that the government had set aside 187 million euros for Hungary from the European Union's 18 billion euro support program for Ukraine, and informed the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that they were ready to negotiate a bilateral agreement.
" We received an answer from the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which says that for them the European Union's support is the priority, so they do not want to conduct negotiations outside of its framework, only within its framework, " he stated.
what exactly this means now. But the bottom line is that we continue to stand by our position that joint European borrowing is not acceptable for us, " he added.
Finally, he informed that the foreign ministers of the Eastern Partnership countries also participated in part of the meeting,
which is important, since the energy crisis underlines the importance of cooperation even more, if only from the point of view of the involvement of new energy sources, in which Azerbaijan is most likely to be considered.
As he said, for this, the capacity of the natural gas pipeline through Turkey should be increased, and Central Europe's physical access to the southern natural gas corridor should be created.
" These are all European tasks, all of which should be carried out in a coordinated manner by the EU. So, when they talk here in Brussels about the importance of diversification, it is important to become independent from Russian sources, unfortunately this has remained at the level of speech for the time being," he opined.
Source: hirado.hu
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