Visegrad Group and the United States are natural allies, says Hungarian FM in Washington, DC

The Visegrad Group and the United States are natural allies, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Washington, DC, on Thursday at a forum organised by the Centre for European Policy Analysis, a US think-tank specialising in central Europe.

“Central Europe, especially the Visegrad Group, has been the voice of reason in the heated and weighty discussions on the future of the European Union,” Szijjártó said.

“Central Europe is the safest region in Europe,” he said,

attributing this to a common approach to the economy and security based on “rational policies which central Europe shares in many ways with the current US administration”.

The US and V4 countries put the security of their countries and citizens as a top priority, “unlike the flawed, dangerous and hypocritical policies of the European Union,” Szijjártó said.

European pressure notwithstanding, the V4 insists that illegal migration “is a bad thing” and its members regard it a duty to protect citizens to the highest degree possible, he added.

Szijjártó said both the US and central European countries pursued patriotic economic policies. When President Donald Trump declared “America first”, this was a “liberating” because no one would again question a country’s right to put its national interests first, he said.

“The Visegrad group is the strongest and most effective alliance in the EU,” Szijjártó said.