Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said that in the wake of the US presidential election, an end to the conflict in Ukraine seems closer than ever, even as the danger of escalation is the greatest yet as "the outgoing US administration is trying to make brokering peace after January 20 impossible".
Minister Szijjártó met House Representative Mike Waltz, a Republican for Florida tapped to serve as national security advisor in the incoming administration headed by Donald Trump, and welcomed that the post would go to a member of the Congressional Hungarian-American Caucus.
Speaking in Washington, D.C., late on Wednesday, Minister Szijjártó said the "friendly talks" touched on geopolitical issues including the war in Ukraine. "It is no coincidence that the issue of the war in Ukraine, whether to end it or continue it, was one of the most important questions in the US presidential campaign, and while Donald Trump said clearly he wanted to end the war, Kamala Harris fought for continuing it."
The foreign minister said Hungary was "rooting for Donald Trump's aim to conclude the war quickly to become reality", and said that keeping channels of communication open was extremely important.
Regarding US-Hungarian relations, Minister Szijjártó said: "The fact that US Republicans and we Hungarian patriots have similar, and occasionally perfectly aligned, views on the most important issues of world politics" would be certain to give a stable foundation to a renewed relationship.
He pointed to the fight against illegal migration and the protection of borders and sovereignty as examples. "We want to base our policies on common sense, family is a priority for both administrations, and we both speak the language of peace."
The most important "takeaway" of the talks with Waltz was that "we speak the language of peace and that the risk of escalation is as clear for the US as it is for us, in the neighbourhood of the war," Minister Szijjártó said.
"There is nothing left but to hope that nothing happens in Ukraine until January 20 to irrevocably change the situation and make brokering peace much harder than it now seems," he said.
At the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels earlier this week, the incumbent US Secretary of State had a "very different approach", Minister Szijjártó said. He lamented that 8 member states have yet to boost their defence spending to 2 percent of GDP. NATO also requires that 20 percent of that be ploughed into modernisation and new purchases; in Hungary, that ratio is at 48 percent. "That is one way we contribute to NATO's strength," he said.