“Only peace can offer a solution to all aspects of the tragic situation” that developed as a consequence of the war in Ukraine, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told an event organized by Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) in Esztergom on Saturday. Minister Szijjártó told MCC Feszt in a speech broadcast on Facebook that the war had a profound effect on the manoeuvring space, the domestic policy and the foreign policy of every country, including Hungary. Hungary condemns military aggression and “stands on the side” of the victims, also supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity, he added.
Minister Szijjártó said the Hungarian government had the greatest responsibility for the Hungarian people and must, by all means, prevent the country from getting involved in the war. The cabinet must not allow Hungarian people to get forced to pay for the price of the war, he added. Relations with Russia must be maintained even in the current situation partly because the vicinity of Russia is a reality in central Europe and also because cutting communications channels would only hinder the possibility of finding a diplomatic settlement, he said. In the long term, only a Russian-American agreement could guarantee the end of the war, he added. Minister Szijjártó said that energy supplies were not an ideological-philosophical matter but a “hardcore physical reality”. Europe’s annual natural gas demand is 170 billion cubic metres and within that Hungary’s demand is 8.5 billion cubic metres a year, he said. Acquiring this volume is impossible without the involvement of Russian energy sources, he added.
Minister Szijjártó said his response to opposition journalists accusing him of being friendly with Russia was “what are we going to use for heating in the winter if I don’t buy gas from the Russians”? He said that Hungarian gas storage capacities were 30 percent full which was better than the European average but the cabinet must buy an additional 732 million cubic metres of gas. Szijjártó added that “Hungary will have no problem with natural gas supplies in the winter”. Hungary is getting 89 percent of the contracted volume of gas thanks to the fact that three-quarters arrive from Serbia and only one quarter from Austria. From the southern direction, Hungary will receive “every molecule” of gas, he added. Minister Szijjártó condemned the European Union’s sanctions policy, saying that it had caused more harm to European countries than to Russia. He reiterated that instead of sanctions, the EU should be focusing on peace and welcomed recent talks between the American and the Russian foreign ministers. Szijjártó criticised plans for the EU’s common foreign policy to change the rule that instead of unanimity, majority support should be sufficient.
Photo credit: MTI