Szijjarto: International politics must ‘fundamentally change’ to tackle crises

Szijjarto said the ongoing UN General Assembly was the tensest of the past decade.

“There are about thirty wars or armed conflicts ongoing in the world. Two of them could undermine global security any minute. Additionally, two of those conflicts are escalating, or the risk of an escalation is extremely high,” he said, according to a ministry statement.

A summit on the future is taking place on Monday and Tuesday, Szijjarto noted. The meeting is scheduled to table issues on water supplies, population growth and green transition, but those issues have had to take a back seat to the matter of peace and war, he said.

The question, he said, was whether a third world war and the escalation of the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine could be avoided, “and whether the global pro-peace majority can ensure that the word peace is not used as a swearword in international politics”, Szijjarto said.

The minister said he would also address the meeting, stressing that international politics would need to undergo fundamental change to resolve the current grave crises.

“Diplomacy should provide the tools for international policymaking, which should be based on dialogue … We must cease attempts to discredit those arguing for peace. Nationally minded patriotic politicians should not be threatened with political, legal or physical annihilation,” he said.

Regarding planned bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Chad, Oman and Congo, Szijjarto said Europe and the transatlantic community’s approach to the “global South … is that they should do whatever we tell them to”. Those countries were not “buying into” that approach, he said.

Those countries faced constant difficulties due to war in Europe, he said. “They don’t understand why Europeans are pushing their difficulties onto the shoulders of the entire world.”

So far, Europe had always called for diplomatic solutions and negotiations in armed conflict, Szijjarto said. “Then, when the war is in Europe, those representing that stance are branded Putin’s puppets and Russian spies, even as Europe is itself adding fuel to the conflict,” he added.

The war posed difficulties for several southern countries that had nothing to do with it, “and who don’t understand why they should be paying the price of a war many thousands of kilometres away,” he said. Hungary was also in the dark as to “why we should be paying the price of the war in the neighbourhood when we have nothing to do with it,” he said.