A foreign ministry official said Brussels has been trying to pressurise Hungary into taking a pro-war position for years, insisting that peace appeared to be a “new dirty word” in the Brussels lexicon.
Boglárka Illés, the state secretary for bilateral relations, told public radio that Budapest would have happily hosted the European Union’s informal foreign affairs council meeting, and there would be more opportunities to do so in the upcoming weeks. “It is obvious that they are not picky when choosing between their various means — and they thought this could be a means to force Hungary to change its position or at least they have tried to put pressure” on Hungary, she said, adding that the government was responsible for Hungarian voters and their security, and sticking to the pro-peace position was a priority. As long as Brussels plans to free up further billions from the European peace allocation in order to buy weapons, then “Hungary will stick to its position”, Illés said. While Hungarian companies are discriminated against in Ukraine and decisions are made that threaten Hungary’s energy security, Hungary will not support the plan, she added. Meanwhile, regarding the Middle East, she said Hungary’s position was that the Hamas terrorist organisation had attacked Israel and Israel had the right to self-defence and to protect its territorial sovereignty. The state must be supported, not the terrorist organisation, which is why the Hungarian government does not support putting elected officials and democratically elected government members on a list of sanctions, she said. “We aim to avoid escalation and all such decisions result in escalation,” she added. She said decisions made in Brussels aimed at the approval of sending soldiers to Ukraine from Western countries, including EU member states. “We believe that if the soldiers of NATO member countries appear in the territory of Ukraine, and what’s more, a decision is made on this at an official foreign ministers council meeting …. that is clearly a step towards escalation and the prolongation of the war,” she said.