Hungary and Serbia both directly and severely feel the effects of the war in Ukraine and illegal immigration on their own skin, which is why both sides are interested in ending the armed conflict as soon as possible, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó after receiving his Serbian colleague on Tuesday. Ivica Dacic also negotiated with Viktor Orbán.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Péter Szijjártó emphasized the shared destiny of Hungary and Serbia at a joint press conference with Ivica Dacic in Budapest, pointing out that few other countries in Europe are affected by these two important security challenges at the same time.

Due to the neighborhood and geographical proximity, the security effects of the war, as well as the economic and energy security effects of the sanctions, directly affect both of us, he said, adding that the increasing migration pressure on the Western Balkan route also directly affects the two parties.

"We are both interested in peace in Ukraine as soon as possible. The prolongation and eventual escalation of the war pose serious dangers for both countries," he said.

Neither the Hungarians nor the Serbs are responsible for this war, but both nations are paying the price, he added.

"We understand that this does not seem so serious from a hundred or a thousand kilometers away, but whoever causes an escalation or prolongation of the war is also acting against our national interests," he underlined.

Péter Szijjártó said that both sides benefit a lot from bilateral cooperation, which is also shown by the fact that the Hungarian-Serbian trade turnover increased by 75 percent last year, breaking a huge record.

He cited as an example that the "key to our country's energy security" is now in Serbia, since Turkish Stream is currently the only gas pipeline operating at 100 percent capacity in the east-west direction on the continent.

He emphasized: last year, 4.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas arrived in Hungary via Serbia, which is close to half of the total domestic consumption, and 438 million cubic meters were transported in the other direction.

He reminded that serious pressure was exerted against the construction of the Turkish Stream by some allies, but it would not be able to be defeated in any way these days. "If the Serbs and we Hungarians had not resisted the pressure then, we would be in huge trouble today," he said.

He said that Hungary is ready to implement new infrastructural investments in order to ensure the security of crude oil supply to Serbia, and that the parties will double the capacity of the electricity connection between the two countries within five years.

The minister referred to the "ready-made scam show" carried out by "some left-wing politicians" who "discovered as a huge miracle" that the amount of stored natural gas decreased during the heating season, but this is a completely natural process.

He stated: the reservoir capacity currently covers 42 percent of the annual use in Hungary, while the European average is only 21 percent.

"I'm asking you not to be fooled, Hungary's energy supply is safe," he said.

He pointed out that if the extraction rate is decreasing, it is because the industry uses less natural gas, not because huge wind, hydro and thermal power plants were built in a few months. "The radical decrease in natural gas consumption predicts the economic recession," he said.

Péter Szijjártó, in response to a journalist's question about the Serbian-Kosovo conflict, stated that Hungary is interested in a peaceful solution, in a compromise created through dialogue, which is why it previously undertook to lead NATO's peacekeeping operation in Kosovo (KFOR).

He believed that the success of this search for a compromise could be jeopardized if various European formations were to admit Kosovo prematurely, so the government will vote no if they vote on whether to admit Kosovo as a member of the Council of Europe.

Source: Magyar Hírlap

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