Péter Szijjártó urged the acceleration of the Eastern Partnership and EU enlargement on Saturday at the informal meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers in Riga.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade told MTI over the phone that the foreign affairs ministers of the candidate countries had participated in the discussions, so enlargement had been the main issue of the meeting. Péter Szijjártó said that isolation would further weaken the competitiveness of Europe as the most important economic processes take place at the level of regional integrations. As he said, it is necessary to accelerate the accession of the Western Balkan countries. He emphasised that it is the fundamental interest of the EU to strengthen cooperation with Turkey that is aspiring to become one of the ten most powerful economies of the world. "In addition to this, we have to make progress in regard to the Eastern Partnership as the gas from Azerbaijan could be one of the solutions for Central’s Europe energy security."
Answering the question of how the Ukraine crisis affects the Eastern Partnership, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade replied that the crisis underlines the importance of accelerating the initiative, or it should be transformed in a way that a specific programme will be offered to the six affected countries instead of a general one. "This could be the key to success in the forthcoming period. The closer their cooperation becomes with the European Union, the more stable these countries will be", he emphasised.
According to experts, the pinnacle of the Latvian EU Presidency will be the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held on 21-22 May in Riga. During the summit, the EU is expected to strengthen its relations with the countries involved in the programme, that is, with Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Ukraine. Answering MTI’s question, Péter Szijjártó said that "everyone’s intention is clear" to reach tangible results at the meeting "but it is not clear yet if we are able to reach a consensus".
Péter Szijjártó had bilateral negotiations with his Greek counterpart, Nikos Kotzias: Central Europe’s energy supply was also on the agenda. "Greece may have a key role regarding the Southern Gas Corridor. Hungary is cooperating with Serbia, Macedonia and Greece on the plan to bring the gas to be transported to Turkey from Russia through this route to Hungary, or Central Europe", he said and added that the foreign affairs ministers of the four countries would negotiate this matter at the beginning of April in Budapest.
Péter Szijjártó held discussions with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier about Hungary’s participation in the fight against the terrorist organisation, Islamic State. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade reminded that these two countries will hold the leading positions in the Western coalition fighting against the Islamic State: the two countries will replace each other in July. As he said, both countries had expressed their appreciation that Hungary had started consultations on its military contribution.
Péter Szijjártó said that he had considered it technically feasible to launch the 100-150 strong Hungarian mission in May. Hungarian soldiers would take on security tasks. He said that he had invited the representatives of the parliamentary parties for a consultation about this issue to be held on Tuesday. According to the information he provided, there is a parliamentary party without fraction that had indicated its willingness to back the mission so it is possible to reach the two thirds majority whereby "Hungary could fight against the Islamic State also by means of military participation".
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
