Szijjarto: ‘We stand with President Trump’

Peter Szijjarto said in the video of the interview uploaded to his Facebook page on Wednesday that under Trump’s leadership, political relations between the United States and Hungary hit a peak.

The latest indictment against former US president, he said, had been politically motivated and Trump was being attacked by the liberal mainstream.

The same was largely true in Europe, too, he said. Strong conservative leaders who enjoyed the support of society were attacked by the liberal mainstream, Szijjarto added.

Meanwhile, on the topic of Sweden’s NATO accession, the minister said the government supported the ratification process and has submitted a related bill to parliament. The timing of the agenda depends on Fidesz MPs, who have a two-thirds majority, he added.

Szijjarto said Swedish politicians had “slandered” Hungary, accusing it of not being a democracy and of being a dictatorship. He said MPs had taken this as an insult and were not yet ready to make a decision on ratification. “When they’re ready, they will make the decision,” he said, adding however that the government was supportive of Sweden’s bid.

Asked about the Russian president’s recent comment about Hungary being an unfriendly nation, and whether this had come as a surprise, Szijjarto noted that Hungary is a member of both NATO and the European Union, and Russia considered all member states of both organisations as unfriendly countries.

The minister noted that as a neighboring country, Hungary was suffering as a result of the war in Ukraine. “It’s not only the Ukrainians who are suffering, Hungarians are suffering as well,” he said, adding that Hungary wanted this suffering to end. Hungary supports a “ceasefire, peace talks and sustainable peace”.

Put to him that Prime Minister Viktor Orban had declared that the Ukrainians were unable to win the war and only negotiations were a viable option, Szijjarto said it was certain that no resolution was possible on the battlefield. “The solution will come only around the negotiating table,” he said.

The minister warned about the possibility of an escalation of the war outside of Ukraine, which he called “a big threat to us” as a neighbouring country.

He said that Hungary had taken in more than one million refugees, and as a nation that “has already lost too many lives in this war, we ask the international community to finally start to concentrate on peace.”

Szijjarto said that had President Trump won the last presidential election, the war would not have broken out, noting the absence of any kind of Russian attack during Trump’s period in office. “We do look at his possible return to the White House” as the signal of hope for a peaceful future, he added.