Hungary prepared to use ‘toughest’ diplomatic means to defend interests, says foreign minister

Hungary will not shy away from using the toughest diplomatic means to defend its interests, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a Wednesday interview to Transylvanian newspaper Krónika.

He noted that Hungary does not support Croatia’s bid to join the OECD as long as Croatia introduces measures that harm the economic interests of Hungary and violate international rules. Further, Hungary will block Ukraine’s endeavours in all international forums in protest against its education law which discriminates against ethnic minorities, he said. In addition, Hungary had been prepared to block Romania’s membership of the OECD, too, before it promised to resolve the outstanding issue of the Hungarian school in Targu Mures/Marosvásárhely).

“The current patriotic foreign policy will go to the extremes in order to strengthen the country and the Hungarian communities beyond the borders,” he said.

Referring to joint economic ties and joint interests in international forums, Szijjarto said recent events demonstrated that Hungary and Romania are interdependent. He cited joint action against the Ukrainian education law as an example.