Hungarian FM Szijjártó on the phone with Ukraine: what for?

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó had talks with Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, by phone on Thursday.

Szijjártó said on Facebook after the talks that the two sides “confirmed their wish to continue consultations with the goal of restoring the rights of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia”.

The minister said an agreement had been reached during the talks to open a new border crossing with Ukraine, between Nagyhódosin Hungary and Velyka Palad (Nagypalád), as well as to allow trucks to cross at Beregsurány. He added that a relevant agreement would soon be signed by Hungary and Ukraine.

Szijjártó: Montenegro prepared for EU accession

Hungary’s government believes Montenegro is prepared for European Union membership, Szijjártó said in Podgorica on Thursday, adding that the Western Balkan country’s accession would give the bloc the fresh energy it needed amid the current difficulties.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Filip Ivanovic, his Montenegrin counterpart, Szijjártó noted that Hungary was taking over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of the year, in a period when the bloc was facing severe economic and security challenges.

“These challenges have thrown the European Union into a negative spiral, from which it can only emerge if it receives a fresh boost of energy from outside,” he said, according to a ministry statement.

“This vital new energy can come from the ambitious, emerging, fast-growing states of the Western Balkans,” Szijjártó said. “Therefore Hungary’s main goal during its six-month presidency will be to speed up the enlargement process.”

Szijjártó said enlargement was “progressing at a snail’s pace”, which he mainly attributed to the fact that the majority of EU member states did not currently support the process, “and especially not its acceleration”.