“There is a strong political alliance between Finland and Hungary concerning the most important elements of the debate on the future of Europe”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI following talks in Helsinki on Wednesday.
“There is agreement between the two countries on four corner points that are extremely important to Hungary from an economic and security perspective”, he said.
“We agree that discrimination with relation to nuclear energy in Europe is unacceptable and that every Member State should have the right to decide for itself what forms of energy it uses. We will oppose all forms of regulations that could have a negative effect on nuclear energy”, he added.
“A nuclear power plant is currently being constructed in Finland using a similar structure – Russian corporate participation and partly Russian financing – as Hungary will be using for the construction of Paks 2”, Mr. Szijjártó pointed out. “Accordingly, we expect the European Union to stop hindering the Paks expansion and to immediately issue the final authorisation for the expansion of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, just as it issued the required permits for the construction of the Finish power station, which is being built using a similar construction. Hungary would like to increase its use of nuclear energy to enable it to move forward within the fields of both competitiveness and energy security”, he declared.
“With relation to Brexit, both Hungary and Finland stress that this must occur in a manner that is fair to the United Kingdom. The two countries are calling for an agreement that enables the continued existence of the closest possible economic cooperation between the UK and the EU. It would cause significant economic damage to the whole of the European Union, including Hungary and Finland, if the efforts of those European bureaucrats who want to punish the UK for exiting the EU were to come to the fore”, Mr. Szijjártó said.
“Helsinki and Budapest also agree on the need to reinforce the European Union’s defence capabilities. After the American presidential elections in November and Brexit (the referendum on the issue), it is more important than ever that we also reinforce the EU’s security pillar. Hungary’s proposal for the establishment of a joint European army is still on the table, and is waiting for a substantive debate to begin on the issue within the European Union”, Mr. Szijjártó continued.
“The two countries are also working in close cooperation in calling for continued EU enlargement. This is a question of security for Hungary, since new tensions are appearing at various points in the Balkans, and if the EU is incapable of providing the countries of the Balkans with the perspective of accession, then Hungary may have to face new security challenges from the south”, he added.
Last year, Hungarian-Finnish bilateral trade flow exceeded 500 million euros. Finland also brought high added value investments based on its own research & development activities to Hungary last year. “As a result of our current negotiations with companies involved in the IT industry and other sectors that provide high added value, two new Finish investment projects in Hungary will be announced in the near future. These will create a total of 300 new jobs in and around Budapest, which require a particularly high level of professional expertise”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.
(MTI)
