Minister: some Western politicians suffering from hungarophobia

Brussels cannot accept that Hungarians have made their own decision on their future and that Hungary is governed by a successful right-wing Christian Democratic government, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Sunday, assessing this week’s visit by a delegation of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control to Budapest.

Speaking to public broadcaster Kossuth Rádió, Szijjártó said the delegation had comprised people “suffering from hungarophobia” who “can’t stand Hungary and don’t believe that Hungarians are capable of making mature, adult decisions on the future of their country”. “What’s more, the members of the delegation tried to interfere in matters constituting Hungary’s sovereignty,” he added. Concerning Hungary’s European Union funds, Szijjártó said he believed his fellow ministers would be successful in their talks aimed at unlocking the monies. He added, at the same time, that the talks were not easy “given that international, liberal, mainstream Brussels can’t accept that Hungarians have made their own decision on their future, and that the people have chosen to have a right-wing, nationally minded, patriotic Christian Democratic government in Budapest which is successful despite the external efforts to put pressure on it”.

It must be made clear that decisions on Hungary’s future can only be made by Hungarians, not Brussels, Szijjártó said. Asked about reports that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had proposed to Ukraine that it shut down the Druzhba pipeline, Szijjártó said Hungary had received no explanation regarding the reports from Kyiv. The minister added that he believed that the matter was one which the EC president should comment on publicly, arguing that energy supply security was a matter of sovereignty, and an attempt to stymie it could be considered “an attack against the given country’s sovereignty”.