Foreign minister calls US ambassador to Budapest ‘a leading figure’ of Hungarian opposition

At a press conference after an informal European Union foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels, Peter Szijjarto said in response to a question concerning Pressman’s criticism of Hungary’s “peace mission” that the US ambassador was “an opposition activist and one of the leading figures of the Hungarian opposition”.

“His statements must be assessed accordingly,” Szijjarto said, according to a ministry statement. “And if I want to talk about the contents of his opposition activist statements, then I could say that interestingly, when the Italian prime minister went to China, and said that China was an essential partner for dialogue in the current fragile international situation, then the opposition activist did not activate himself.”

“Or when President Zelensky called Donald Trump, he did not express any condemnation, or when the Ukrainian foreign minister recently visited China, we could not hear any criticism from him,” he added.

“So it is obvious that his statements came from and were inspired by his opposition position,” he said.

Commenting on criticism voiced by his Lithuanian counterpart, Szijjarto said Gabrielius Landsbergis was “one of the most pro-war politicians” in Europe.

“He is competing for the title of most pro-war politician; he regularly criticises Hungary’s pro-peace position. I believe his assessment of the situation cannot be considered realistic in any aspect,” he added.

Szijjarto slams EU foreign policy chief’s ‘dangerous’ Middle East proposals

Peter Szijjarto on Thursday criticised what he called “dangerous and unreasonable proposals” put forward by European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell concerning the situation in the Middle East. Speaking at a press conference after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Szijjarto said Borrell “has seemingly lost control” and was putting forward proposals “that are extremely dangerous for Europe”.

Szijjarto criticised a proposal for the EU to impose sanctions on two Israeli ministers.

“It’s an extremely dangerous and absolutely unreasonable proposal, because such a decision would raise major question marks in the Middle East, and would completely undermine the cooperation between the European Union and Israel,” Szijjarto said, according to a ministry statement.

He praised Israel for its agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) on the launch of a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza.

“This step must be appreciated,” he said. “They wanted to adopt a joint position here today that would have criticised Israel in spite of this agreement, so we asked that it be amended.”

Szijjarto also welcomed Israel’s commitment to guaranteeing religious freedom on the Temple Mount and in the country’s holy places.

“Certain steps in the recent period have raised concern among certain Israeli politicians and certain Christian communities,” he said. “And in this respect I believe the Israeli foreign minister’s and prime minister’s public commitment to maintaining the freedom to practise religion is significant.”

Meanwhile, Szijjarto said Thursday’s meeting was also attended by Turkiye’s foreign minister, noting that there had not been such a high-level meeting between the EU and Turkiye in the last five years.

He underscored the importance of preserving the EU and Turkiye’s cooperation on migration, saying he had asked his Turkish counterpart “not to let themselves be talked out of keeping migration at bay just because they see an EU member state being made to pay tens and hundreds of thousands of forints for protecting its borders”.

Szijjarto said he and his Turkish counterpart did not hold bilateral talks this time because they could “do so at any time” and will talk on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting next month.

The minister said Turkiye was “indispensable” when it came to responding to the challenges before the EU, whether it be energy security or migration.

On another subject, he said the deadly stabbing in Germany last weekend had demonstrated “just how dangerous and unreasonable the pressure Brussels is trying to put on Hungary is”.

“We don’t want a Solingen in Hungary, we don’t want stabbings in Hungary, we don’t want illegal migrants in Hungary, so it’s simply shocking and outrageous that while the number of crimes committed and the number of people killed by illegal migrants in Europe is rising, the European Union is punishing us because we protect ourselves and our border and don’t allow illegal immigrants into the country,” he said.