Márta Mátrai, First Officer of the Hungarian parliament, said that Hungary continues to advocate Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and — along with its EU and NATO allies — condemns Russia’s military action.
Speaking in Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia, on Tuesday, at a conference of the EU countries’ parliamentary speakers on behalf of László Kövér, Mátrai said that the conference had been addressed online by Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of the Ukrainian parliament. “All of us expressed solidarity with Ukraine and condemned the Russian aggression,” she said. The first officer told the conference that Hungary takes a stand for Ukraine in every possible forum and grants it every possible humanitarian, political and economic assistance. She said that Hungary, along with all the other NATO countries, wished to guarantee peace and security for its inhabitants and therefore wanted to stay out of the war. Citing the March 10 resolution of parliament, Mátrai reiterated that Hungary would not deliver weapons, would not send soldiers and would not allow the transit of weapons across its territory into Ukraine. Concerning the oft repeated charge that Hungary depends excessively on Russian energy, she said that Hungary and other EU member states which oppose energy sanctions on Russia consider it unattainable to become totally independent from Russian energy supplies overnight.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons / Andor Elekes