Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said all elements of the European Union’s 13th package of sanctions against Russia that would harm Hungarians’ interests “have been weeded out”.
Minister Szijjártó told a press conference after a meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council that the package was “for show” and did not promote peace. The only reason for the new sanctions in the process of being finalized “is that the bloc can now say they did something ahead of the second anniversary of the war”, he added. In the past weeks, the Hungarian government “has weeded out the measures that may have harmed Hungarian interests.” Hungary’s fundamental economic interests are not harmed by the package, Szijjártó said. “But there is a bigger problem: the EU is further pursuing a completely failed strategy, which takes us farther away from peace rather than taking us nearer,” he said. Hungary will continue to strip any elements that may harm its interests, should further sanctions be proposed, he added. “The sanctions packages have harmed European competitiveness while improving that of other players in the world economy. That’s a double failure, double disadvantage and double mistake. It would be good if colleagues in Brussels could draw the conclusions,” he said.