Szijjarto at WHO GA: Politicising international organisations ‘extremely dangerous’

Peter Szijjarto said “crises can only be resolved successfully if responses are professional and based on common sense.”

According to a statement from the foreign ministry, Szijjarto added that the war in Ukraine posed a “new crisis, which could be even more serious than the almost-forgotten coronavirus pandemic”, resulting in huge geopolitical changes, including politicisation of international agencies.

“One of the lessons to be learnt from the years of the pandemic is that fighting epidemics must not be considered an ideological issue,” he said. “Had Hungary approached the pandemic on a political or ideological basis, we would have had several thousand more victims.”

“Instead, we used the fantastic achievements of scientists irrespective of which geographical direction they had come from, whether from the East or from the West.” Hungary therefore implemented “the fastest and most successful” vaccination campaign in the European Union, he insisted.

Concerning Hungary’s upcoming EU presidency, the minister said the government would have two health-related priorities. Given that cardiovascular problems are a leading cause of mortality in the EU, the Hungarian presidency will prepare an European cardiovascular strategy and action plan, with a proposal to set up a “joint platform to coordinate clinical testing and with more emphasis on prevention and rehabilitation,” he said.

Further, he noted that the number of organ donations had dropped by 25 percent due to the coronavirus pandemic, and he proposed preparing an European transplant strategy.