Hungary is not even willing to discuss the issue of further EU financing of arms deliveries to Ukraine until Kiev removes the OTP from the list of international sponsors of the war and returns the rights of the Transcarpathian community, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on Thursday in Toledo.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the head of the department reported after the informal meeting of the European Union foreign ministers that the agenda item related to the war in Ukraine made it clear once again that the voice of peace must be strengthened, because the great majority is still busy with the war.

He informed that the majority position is to maintain arms deliveries, which clearly shows that everyone is already counting on a long war, as evidenced by the proposal of the European Union, according to which five to five billion euros per year would be spent on military aid over the next four years.

"This approach is extremely saddening (...) This is when we have to ask how many people will die, how much destruction Ukraine will have to suffer in the next four years"

he declared.

"Unfortunately, I spoke out against this approach alone today. We don't want another four years of war, we want this war to end as soon as possible," he added.

He then highlighted that there was a lot of pressure to get Hungary to vote on the new 500 million euro installment to finance arms shipments, as well as the 20 billion euro package for the next four years.

However, according to his words, this would mean that more than HUF 80 billion would have to be paid in the following years from the money of Hungarian taxpayers, who are not responsible for the war in the least.

Péter Szijjártó stated: the government is not even willing to discuss this proposal until the Ukrainian authorities remove the OTP from the list of international sponsors of the war.

"The huge contradiction (..) is that while we are expected to pay tens of billions of HUF from Hungarian taxpayers' money for arms deliveries to Ukraine, Ukraine considers the largest bank that manages the bank accounts of three million Hungarians to be an international sponsor of the war"

- He told.

He also mentioned that Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, had initiated a one-on-one meeting with him and the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba, on this matter, but he refused.

Furthermore, he emphasized that Borrell presented the expert opinion of the community's lawyers, who considered that the OTP did not violate any EU legislation or sanctions with its operation, thus confirming the inadmissibility of the listing.

The minister then touched on the situation of the Transcarpathian Hungarians and complained that the "Ukrainization" of about 15,000 students practically began on September 1, while more than five thousand refugee children can continue their studies in Hungary.

He called the new regulations adopted by Kyiv a serious violation of international law, and emphasized that this will be the main point for our country when the EU starts to examine in the fall the extent to which Ukraine met the expectations for the start of accession negotiations.

He also stated that this time there was also a member state that raised the need for sanctions targeting the Russian nuclear industry, but the government will still not allow it.

"And not only because it is against the national interest, but also because the nuclear sanctions show exactly how sanctions destroy the competitiveness of the European economy and how some people look at us as stupid"

he said.

He pointed out that the United States more than doubled its uranium imports from Russia in the first half of 2023, a figure not seen since 2005.

Péter Szijjártó, in response to the question about the agenda item on the situation in West Africa, reported that stability, tranquility and peace are needed in the region, otherwise new waves of migration could start from there, which the EU would not be able to handle in the current situation.

"Instead of helping the defenders of the external border, Brussels clearly states that it is only possible to enter Europe legally, instead it constantly inspires migration processes"

he thought.

MTI

Cover image: MTI/ROSTA TIBOR