Pro-peace shift in Europe attributed to Hungary’s EU presidency, official says

Although the majority of countries still belong to the “pro-war camp” in Europe, more and more countries have started to endorse peace and a ceasefire thanks to the consistent Hungarian standpoint represented by Hungary’s current EU presidency and the Hungarian prime minister’s peace mission, a government official for EU affairs said in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

The issue of war and peace is the main topic in Europe today, with “the Russia-Ukraine war casting a shadow on every affair not only in Brussels, but in the whole of Europe,” Barna Pál Zsigmond, parliamentary state secretary of the EU affairs ministry, said on the sidelines at a European Parliament plenary session.

“We Hungarians have kept saying ever since the war broke out that we have a pro-peace stance, that we want to have peace,” he said, adding that at the beginning of the presidency, only Hungary and the Vatican had belonged to the “pro-peace camp”.

“At that time, the word peace could not be uttered, and those who spoke about peace were immediately stigmatised,” the state secretary said, noting that “in a shift since then, more and more [countries] have realised that something must be done … and that it is a common interest to have peace next door”.

He said the fact that US President-elect Donald Trump is also an advocate of peace helped give hope for a ceasefire in the coming period which could be followed by peace.