Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said on Monday that maintaining the “Hungarian-Polish brotherhood” is a central element of Hungary’s foreign policy strategy, even if the two countries may disagree on certain issues.
Hungary does not view its cooperation with Poland from a tactical perspective, Minister Szijjártó said after meeting Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek, his Polish counterpart. “We see Hungarian-Polish relations as more than friendship and more than an alliance,” Minister Szijjártó said, adding that Hungary considered its ties with Poland a “brotherhood”. “And even if we have disagreements, different points of emphasis or different approaches to certain issues, brotherhood is still brotherhood,” Minister Szijjártó said Hungary respected the Polish nation and its decisions and strove for good cooperation with Poland’s elected government. Maintaining “Hungarian-Polish brotherhood”, he said, would remain one of the key components of Hungary’s foreign policy strategy in the future, too. Concerning his talks with Szynkowski vel Sek, Szijjártó said they had talked at length about the future of the European Union and specifically what he called renewed intentions to amend the founding treaties with a view to strengthening Brussels’s powers. “We were in agreement that the interests of a strong Poland and strong Hungary lie in a strong European Union, but we also concurred that it is not member states that are looked down on, weakened or blackmailed that make the EU strong,” Szijjártó said. “The European Union will be strong if the member states themselves are strong, if they can represent their interests and if they stand by and adhere to their historical and religious heritage and traditions.” He said Hungary and Poland rejected “extreme” plans aimed at creating “a kind of superstate”, handing “even more powers” to Brussels. “We think there’s enough power in Brussels already, and in fact the way we see it, whenever there’s a crisis or a challenging period, it’s the decisions made by member states and decisions made through intergovernmental agreements and cooperation that are a lot more effective, quicker and more efficient,” Szijjártó said. He said Hungary and Poland insisted on the EU’s unanimity rule in decision-making where the treaties required it. “We don’t accept Brussels bureaucrats, Soros agents or even the bigger member states deciding about our own affairs,” he said. “Let’s think about what would happen if instead of us, it would be the various components of the Soros network making decisions in areas like defence policy, taxation, education or even energy supply,” Szijjártó added. Meanwhile, he said Hungary and Poland rejected efforts to legalise illegal migration. “We reject efforts from Brussels to blackmail member states into giving up our sovereign right to decide to whom we allow entry into Hungary and whom we want to live together with,” the minister said.