Hungary is ready to continue helping Ukraine on a bilateral basis, but will not support a new EU loan for this purpose, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in Sofia on Monday, MTI and Agerpres reported.

Peter Siyarto with his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov Photo: Sputnik / Profimedia Images

Referring to a legislative project to be presented this week by the European Commission on a monthly aid of 1.5 billion dollars to cover the financial needs of the war-torn country, Peter Szijjarto recalled during a meeting of the heads of diplomats from the Central European Initiative that even before the war, Hungary supported medical , educational, cultural and religious institutions in Ukraine “tens and hundreds of millions of euros”.

“We are ready to continue supporting Ukraine on the basis of a bilateral agreement,” he said.

At the same time, the minister noted, Hungary “categorically will not support a joint EU loan” for this, because “we have already done it once.” We supported the joint EU loan during the pandemic, and that was more than enough,” Sijarto insisted.

Hungary again criticizes the sanctions imposed by the EU against Russia

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary also stated regarding the sanctions adopted against Russia in response to its attack on Ukraine, that the measures had the opposite effect to what was promised when they were implemented:

“The brutality of the war is increasing, and the European economy, not the Russian one, is brought to its knees,” he said.

Similar statements were also made by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the last time in October and September. The Prime Minister of Hungary also called for the lifting of sanctions already imposed on Russia, accusing the EU of “indirectly” targeting his country.

Szijjártó cited as an example the increase in energy costs for Hungary, which spent 7 billion euros on energy imports last year, an amount that rose to 19 billion this year and is expected to reach around 29 billion euros in 2023.

“It must be admitted that these measures essentially failed. The European economy is suffering, and it seems clear who will win,” the minister added.

The government will not allow Hungarians to pay the price of war and believes that the only solution is peace, he emphasized.

Peter Szijjarto blames the migration pressure that Hungary is under

Peter Szijjarto also stated that Hungary is also under the double pressure of migration, which poses a significant security risk. According to him, currently Hungary has accepted about 1 million Ukrainian refugees and about 1,300 schools and kindergartens have accepted Ukrainian children.

At the same time, “it can be said without exaggeration that our southern border is under siege,” added the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, noting that this year the authorities prevented about 230,000 illegal entries.

The numbers are now “similar to those of the migration crisis of 2015, and some of those who arrive are attacking each other and attacking border guards with weapons”, while Brussels continues its “hypocritical approach, encouraging migrants to come to Europe and thereby supporting the business model of human traffickers, which is unacceptable.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Sunday that she will offer the EU to provide Kyiv with this new financial aid in the context of Russian armed forces attempting to systematically destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of the winter months. .

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