If former President Donald Trump was reelected for a second term in office in 2024 Hungary could hope to resume the "best-ever political relationship" the two countries had enjoyed during his administration, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told Fox News Digital.
"Definitely, we work together with those who are elected here in the US. Well, but we have to be honest: If you look at the relationship, the political relationship under conservative or Republican administration and under Democratic administration, there's a big change,” Peter Szijjarto said during an interview on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
The 77th session of the UN General Assembly takes place in New York on September 20-23, 2022.
"Under the term of President Trump, we had the best-ever political relationship between the two countries, [the] best-ever relationship. We respect President Trump a lot," Szijjarto emphasized.
Trump has repeatedly hinted at making another run for office in 2024, in spite of threats of criminal prosecution by the Justice Department over the alleged illegal removal and handling of classified documents.
Indeed, during his tenure, the ex-president dismissed concerns voiced by some members of the US Congress about Hungary’s “downward democratic trajectory.”
“He’s a respected man. And I know he’s a tough man, but he’s a respected man,” Trump said in May 2019, adding that PM Victor Orban was “like me, a little controversial.”
Trump had also lauded Orban for sharing his tough stance regarding the issue of immigration.
23 September 2022, 10:13 GMT
‘Patriotic Center-Right’
When asked to comment on accusations that Hungary, where Prime Minister Victor Orban was reelected to his fourth term this year, had been violating European values, Szijjarto said the European Union only defines democracy as "in case the liberals are governing."
"This is not the case in Hungary because we are a patriotic center-right, Christian democratic government, definitely against the liberal mainstream. They hate us, and, you know, since we are successful, we are a kind of proof that it's not only the liberal mainstream which can be progressive and successful. A conservative political strategy can be successful as well. And they hate this fact," Szijjarto explained.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister hailed "revolutionary changes" to his country’s automotive industry over the past decade. As an example, he cited the launch of electric battery manufacturing in Hungary as one of the "five biggest investments in Europe." He also mentioned that Hungary was the first European Union country to approve the Paris Climate Agreement and had reduced its emissions, with a goal toward going carbon-neutral by 2050.
"It's a very important issue for us, though we approach this matter on a pragmatic basis. So, for us, economy, competitiveness and environmental protection must go hand in hand. If this balance between the two is broken, then it endangers the credibility of the efforts,” Szijjarto said.
Sanction Policy ‘Has Not Delivered’
The Hungarian Foreign Minister reiterated his country’s vehement opposition to further sanctions on Russia in response to its special military operation in Ukraine. The self-harming restrictive measures already in place have hurt other countries much more, despite being introduced to “cripple” the Russian economy, Szijjarto said.
"The sanctions are more harmful to us Europeans than to the Russians. The security of energy supply in Europe is just basically gone. There is a crisis of energy supply, not only from the perspective of price, but from the perspective of volume as well, not to speak about inflation, not to speak about the food prices … So the sanction policy has not delivered those results, which were expected by the European Union and the institutions in Brussels," Peter Szijjarto argued.
For months now, since Russia launched its special operation in Ukraine on February 24, Hungarian PM Orban has criticized the European Union over its sanctions policy. Furthermore, while the US and its European allies have committed tens of billions of dollars in military and economic support for the Kiev regime, Budapest has refused to allow NATO military equipment to be transferred to Ukraine through Hungary. It repeatedly called for urgent peace negotiations between Moscow and the West to end the security crisis.
Russia has been repeatedly warning of the dangers of weapons shipments only serving to prolong the Ukraine conflict, as well as the threat that they could wind up on the international arms black market thanks to the corruption rampant there under the Kiev authorities.
15 September 2022, 18:31 GMT