Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said that one of the fallouts of the war in Ukraine is that international organizations have become “over-politicized”, which the Hungarian government considers “extremely dangerous”,
In his address to the general assembly of the World Health Organisation in Geneva, Minister Szijjártó said “crises can only be resolved successfully if responses are professional and based on common sense.” According to a statement from the foreign ministry, Minister Szijjártó added that the war in Ukraine posed a “new crisis, which could be even more serious than the almost-forgotten coronavirus pandemic”, resulting in huge geopolitical changes, including the politicisation of international agencies. “One of the lessons to be learnt from the years of the pandemic is that fighting epidemics must not be considered an ideological issue,” he said. “Had Hungary approached the pandemic on a political or ideological basis, we would have had several thousand more victims.” “Instead, we used the fantastic achievements of scientists irrespective of which geographical direction they had come from, whether from the East or from the West.” Hungary therefore implemented “the fastest and most successful” vaccination campaign in the European Union, the minister insisted. Concerning Hungary’s upcoming EU presidency, Minister Szijjártó said that the government would have two health-related priorities. Given that cardiovascular problems are a leading cause of mortality in the EU, the Hungarian presidency will prepare a European cardiovascular strategy and action plan, with a proposal to set up a “joint platform to coordinate clinical testing and with more emphasis on prevention and rehabilitation,” he said. Further, he noted that the number of organ donations had dropped by 25% due to the coronavirus pandemic, and he proposed preparing a European transplant strategy.