The Budapest Times
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Szijjarto: EU foreign policy should be based on cooperation, not sanctions

Written by BT/MTI
Rather than "using sanctions only", the European Union should base its foreign policy on dialogue and cooperation, "otherwise others will decide on European security without asking Europeans", Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told an informal meeting of this EU peers in Brest on Thursday.

At the meeting, Szijjarto said the Hungarian government supported high-level talks between Russia and the United States, adding that “Hungary is interested in cooperation rather than conflicts between East and West”.

“We suffered many bad experiences in times of conflict between East and West; Hungary usually lost out in those situations,” he said.

The EU is expected to support Russia-US talks, too, Szijjarto said.

“If the EU’s foreign policy continues to be about sanctions only, Brussels would merely ensure that decisions on Europe’s security are made without us Europeans, and this would not be right,” he said.

“We urge the EU to consider a more pragmatic, interest-based, and practical foreign policy, based less on ideology and rather supporting East-West dialogue,” Szijjarto said.

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