Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungary will provide Georgia with all support to protect its sovereignty and accelerate the country’s European Union integration.
During talks with his Georgian counterpart, Ilia Darchiashvili, in Budapest on Friday, the foreign minister said the Hungarian government will continue to promote Georgia’s EU integration “with all its might” and will do everything to forward the process during Hungary’s current EU presidency. Fast developing countries such as Georgia “could lend a great momentum to the European Union, whose competitiveness has significantly decreased recently, therefore it is also in the EU’s fundamental interest that Georgia should join,” Szijjártó told a joint press conference held with his counterpart. The minister highlighted the progress in bilateral ties, noting that the turnover of bilateral trade had increased by 2.5 times since 2010, and Hungary’s Wizz Air had become an air traffic market leader in Georgia. Szijjártó noted that they signed an agreement on the reciprocal protection of investments.
On another subject, Minister Szijjártó said Georgia could be crucial for improving Europe’s energy security, diversification of energy sources and green transition. Hungary and Romania, in cooperation with Azerbaijan and Georgia, have made great progress in facilitating the imports of green energy from the latter two countries, Szijjártó said. The cooperation is aimed at building “the longest submarine electric power line in the world”, Szijjártó said, adding that a feasibility study was being prepared while the four countries were about to set up a joint venture for the purpose. “All conditions are in place for a great, Caucasian-central European success story,” he said. The minister added that “Europe should be as happy as a lark” with Georgia’s endeavour to join and “should do all to accelerate that process … but instead, the European liberal mainstream, the pro-war politicians and Brussels bureaucrats are seeking to thwart Georgia’s European integration.” He suggested it was happening because “Georgia has a patriotic government … that fights for their own national interests and … against foreign influence.” He added that the Georgian government was working to protect families and a traditional family model, and adopted a law to the latter end. “That is why Brussels has imposed political and financial punishments, freezing funds earlier pledged to Georgia and hindering integration talks with every possible means,” he added. “We know this all too well since this is exactly what the Brussels elite has been doing to us,” Szijjártó said.