Coronavirus – Hungarian government accepts donation, also pledges further help to CEE countries

Hungary will continue to help other central and eastern European countries in their efforts to contain the novel coronavirus epidemic which is in line with the EU’s relevant policy, the foreign minister said on Wednesday, after a video conference with EU development ministers.

The video conference was initiated by Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs and security policy commissioner, to discuss the distribution of 15.5 billion euro assistance the EU has set aside as a bloc to help troubled countries in the western Balkans, in Africa and Asia, Péter Szijjártó told a press conference on Facebook.

The EU commissioner has asked every member state to provide help to troubled countries outside the bloc, Szijjártó said.

Hungary has so far provided 600,000 face masks and 30,000 protective suits to neighbouring Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, as well as to North Macedonia and the Bosnian Serb Republic, he said.