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FM: Two key world political figures trounced von der Leyen in a single week

Minister Szijjártó said it was shameful "that such a person represents the European Union".

Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said two key world political figures trounced President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in a single week. The foreign minister added that multiple tariffs must be paid for European goods in the US from now on, while von der Leyen had been afforded a greeting in China more in line with the arrival of a tourist than an official representative of the bloc.

"The European Union is basically now the butt of humiliation and ridicule in world politics," a ministry statement quoted him as saying.

No one, he added, could afford to speak about Donald Trump or Chinese leaders, as many European politicians had done, in a demeaning way without bearing the consequences.

He said crude and vulgar comments about Trump had "backfired", adding that tariffs of 2.5 percent on European cars and other goods would now rise to 15 percent.

Minister Szijjártó said it was shameful "that such a person represents the European Union".

Meanwhile, the minister expressed hope that a rift would not develop between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. "The world has become a safer place since the American and Russian presidents started talking to each other," he said.

Minister Szijjártó accused Western European leaders of attempting to undermine US peace efforts, calling such efforts "extremely irresponsible and criminal".

Had Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Western European politicians "not hindered" Trump's efforts, the settlement of the war might be "much closer", he added.

He said Western European leaders had turned the war in Ukraine into a global problem, "and even a European war".

Referring to the "Hungarian peace mission" last summer, he said most of his EU counterparts had savaged him for trying to promote a ceasefire and peace negotiations.

"Donald Trump has solved things in the rest of the world, but in Europe ... they are trying to suppress and shame normal, conservative, patriotic, peace-loving politicians," he said.

Minister Szijjártó said that as long as a national government was in power, Hungary would be a good place to live. But if a "puppet government at the mercy of Brussels comes to power", there would no longer be a government to fight Hungary's corner against 26 EU member states.