Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told the Salzburg Europe Summit on Monday that Europe should work together in the interest of achieving peace, stemming waves of illegal migration and restoring the community's economic competitiveness.
A statement from the foreign ministry quoted Minister Szijjártó as referring to the war in Ukraine, the mass migration facing the continent for the past 10 years and economic questions "seen in a strongly ideological light" in the European Union.
"What do we suggest as in line with the EU's interest? This will not be the mainstream position ... we believe that Europe has an interest in driving developments in Ukraine towards peace. Europe has an interest in reining in the waves of migration at last, and Europe also has an interest in making economic decisions based on common sense," he said. The Hungarian government, he added, "supports all initiatives aimed at peace in Ukraine and we will do everything in the interest of preserving national sovereignty and economic neutrality."
Concerning the war in Ukraine, Minister Szijjártó said that as opposed to sending more weapons to Ukraine, adopting further sanctions and enabling Ukraine to use their weapons against targets in Russia, "talks should be launched, and in the end we should find a peaceful solution to save human life." While "the first approach has simply not worked ... the second should be given a chance ... (we should) try and concentrate on ways to make peace and (ways) to avoid prolonging the war," the minister said.
Minister Szijjártó said Hungary was currently under EU sanctions "for protecting the EU's external borders". He said Hungarian authorities had prevented over 500,000 illegal entry attempts in recent years, and noted that under international law refugees could be granted temporary asylum in the first safe country after fleeing their homeland. "There is no word about second, third ... tenth safe country," he added. "Unless we return to the foundations of international law we will never be able to protect the continent's security," he warned.
Minister Szijjártó said "a possible new economic Cold War" and the world falling into new blocs were "a great threat" and were in sharp contrast with Hungary's interests. Hungary continues to be interested in connectivity, a "civilised cooperation" between East and West, he added.
Hungary is one of three countries in the world in which all three of Germany's leading carmakers have plants, while five of the largest battery makers in the East have made a commitment to have production in Hungary, Szijjártó said. "If we put artificial obstacles in the way of companies dominating the economic performance of the continent we could cause huge problems, while the competitiveness of the EU has become even weaker than before," he warned.