Hungary will remain uninvolved in the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, but will not block other EU Member States from doing so, adding that the Hungarian government refuses to bear any of the financial burden of this, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Monday in Brussels.
According to a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Minister said at a press conference following the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting that the situation in Ukraine was a key item on the agenda, and the discussions had made it clear that the spirit this year remained the same old “war psychosis” of Brussels.
He complained that Member States still refuse to abandon their failed strategy despite failures have been proven over the past few weeks.
"This strategy has failed; there is no solution to this war on the battlefield. The more people die, and the greater the level of destruction will be, the longer this war lasts," he emphasized.
He called the new proposal of the European External Action Service disappointing to allocate a 500 million euro budget for arms delivery to Ukraine within the frames of the European Peace Facility this year, which would be later extended on a yearly basis.
Though he said it was a notch softer than the previous proposal, the approach remained the same, and it would reaffirm the community's long-term commitment to the war.
He also said that Hungary should contribute with 23 billion forints to this project according to this proposal.
“Giving a new momentum to weapon deliveries is completely unacceptable for Hungary. Hungary has never delivered weapons, and has no intention to do so in the future. We are not willing to participate in any kind of decisions that contributes to the increase of arms shipments," he underlined.
Szijjártó added at the same time, that the government can't and won't prevent other Member States from supplying weapons, noting that they are accountable to their citizens.
Let's say why millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions of euros were not provided to support different social groups, for example, farmers, but for arms supplies. It will be everyone's decision, and each government must be accountable to its electorate," he said.
"Today, I took the position that Hungary will not participate in arms transfers, we will not prevent others from doing so, but at the same time, we are not willing to bear any financial burden because of the arms transfers of others," he said.
"I asked them to consider that, try to cook with that, and prepare a decision accordingly," he continued.
"We will definitely not spend another 23 billion forints of Hungarian taxpayers' money in a single year to send weapons to Ukraine, which will prolong the war, extends the suffering, and brings more deaths and more destruction ", he concluded.
Then he argued that instead of all these proposals, the EU should open communication channels, achieve a ceasefire, and start peace talks between the parties.
"According to our point of view, this is the only acceptable position on a moral basis, as it is the way to save human lives, including Hungarian lives," he said.
Finally, the Minister also reported that there were discussions about a thirteenth package of sanctions against Russia. Even though, the previous restrictions mainly harmed Europe, and they did not bring us any closer to a settlement.
"Of course, if one brings this up, as I regularly bring it up, one will be immediately be accused of spreading Russian propaganda," he declared.
He also warned his colleagues against extending sanctions to the nuclear industry, as Hungary will not support any such measure.
In this context, he pointed to the controversy of Russia becoming the number one supplier of uranium to the United States last year, with reports of import more than a billion dollars.
Source: MTI-Hungarian News Agency
