Szijjarto calls for sincere communication, end to ‘deception’, on EU enlargement

The ministry cited Szijjarto telling a joint press conference with North Macedonian counterpart Timcho Mucunski that both countries attached great significance to bilateral cooperation, especially in the current period characterised by severe challenges facing the continent, when “it appears the EU has not found the correct responses to difficulties”.

“Had we found them, Europe would not be ailing,” he said. “We believe the current situation is proof that it is high time for the European Union to return to politics based on common sense and to accept that Europe cannot be stable if there is no stability in its direct neighbourhood, therefore dialogue must be enhanced with the EU’s neighbours,” he added.

“And they must finally understand in Brussels and in the western and eastern Europe, and Baltic capitals that the European Union indeed needs the Western Balkans, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the EU now needs the Western Balkans more than the other way round,” he said.

The EU needs new energy which can come from the Western Balkans, because the ambitions and rapid development of states in the region could generate the impetus that the bloc currently lacks, he added.

Szijjarto said there was “huge hypocrisy” in the EU when it came to enlargement, with everybody making supportive public statements but behind closed doors, the majority of people forming a disapproving position.

Had it not been the case, North Macedonia would not be in the underserved situation of being a candidate country for nineteen years, and accession talks still not starting, he said.

Szijjarto said the government would make every effort for an intergovernmental conference to be organised with North Macedonia before the end of the Hungarian EU presidency which would enable opening the first chapters of accession talks.

“Additionally, we are calling on the European Commission to start payments due for the development of North Macedonia under the arrangements of the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans,” he said.

He added that the government in Skopje had fulfilled all the necessary conditions and the transfer of EU resources “are not always without political prejudice, and not always done in line with objective conditions”.

He expressed thanks to Western Balkan leaders for a joint letter they sent to support Oliver Varhelyi, asking for the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement to be allowed to continue his work.

He said bilateral trade between North Macedonia and Hungary grew five-fold in recent years, adding that “Hungary’s government will continue to support domestic companies to carry out investments in North Macedonia in strategic areas”.

Szijjarto said the sides had confirmed their commitment to stop illegal migration which posed a fundamental threat to the security of the Western Balkans.

Szijjarto slams Baltic states’ ‘ridiculous and deceitful’ actions over Hungary’s National Card scheme

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Friday slammed what he called “ridiculous and deceitful” actions by the Baltic countries when it came to the expansion of Hungary’s National Card programme, adding that “this propaganda tsunami has also found fertile ground in Brussels”.

The number of Russian citizens in Hungary is just 0.7 percent of the more than one million Russians in the European Union, Szijjarto said in response to a question at a joint press conference with his North Macedonian counterpart, according to a ministry statement.

“And in Germany — if I recall correctly — there’s 300,000,” he said. “In the Baltic countries, which were the loudest throughout the summer, there’s a total of 140,000, 20 times as many as in Hungary. And then the Baltic states launch a huge propaganda tsunami on us with the help of the European liberal media on how dangerous this is.”

Szijjarto said he had debated the matter at the last meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council where his Lithuanian counterpart had talked about a “dramatic increase in the number of Belarusian citizens travelling with a Hungarian visa”. He said the truth, however, was that the Hungarian embassy in Minsk has issued fewer visas so far this year than at this point last year.

Meanwhile, Szijjarto said, Germany, Italy and Russia had “radically” increased the number of visas issued to Belarusians.

“So what they’re doing is ridiculous. Ridiculous and deceitful,” Szijjarto said. “It’s typical of the current Baltic governments, so we ask that they stop with these lies. It’s clear, however, that this has found fertile ground in Brussels, because the European Commission is now asking for all kinds of details and asking all sorts of questions, but the point is that when they’re confronted with reality, they’re not that happy anymore.”

Commenting on the Ukrainian president’s request to be allowed to use Western weapons to strike deep within Russian territory, Szijjarto said such measures were all dangerous and posed a risk of escalation. He said the focus should finally be on diplomacy over weapons.

He said Hungary is the only EU and NATO member that has not and will not supply weapons to Ukraine.

Szijjarto said Hungary’s peace mission was “a constant one”, and expressed hope that political debates in Europe would soon reach a point where those who talk about peace “aren’t immediately branded Russian spies”.