Szijjarto: ‘We can’t allow Hungarians to be made to pay price of war’

“We cannot allow the Hungarian people to be made to pay the price of this war,” Szijjarto told MTI after a meeting between Prime Minister Viktor Orban and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Budapest.

Monday’s meeting mainly focused on the EU’s latest package of sanctions against Russia and its effects on the Hungarian economy, the minister said.

Hungary’s energy supply “rests on stable foundations” at present, Szijjarto said, adding, at the same time, that the implementation of the new sanctions package would destroy the country’s energy security, as it would make it “impossible” for Hungary to get the crude necessary for the economy to function.

Hungarian government officials briefed the EC president in detail on the impacts the country is experiencing as well as the problems the new sanctions package would cause Hungary, and asked for the package to be reconsidered, he said.

Until the EC offers a solution to these problems, Hungary cannot support the sanctions package because in its current form it is equivalent to “dropping a nuclear bomb on the Hungarian economy”, Szijjarto said.