“We must respect each other’s domestic policy decisions and the politics of interference and lecturing has to stop”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Tuesday at an unofficial meeting of foreign ministers of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the resort town of Štrbské Pleso (Csorbató) in Slovakia.

The Minister spoke about the need for dialogue between East and West, stressing that the OSCE is an organisation that provides an opportunity to conduct such dialogue.

“It is extremely important for the countries of Central Europe for there to be rational dialogue between East and West, not least in view of the fact that the countries of Central Europe have always been the losers of previous conflicts”, Mr. Szijjártó emphasised. “Instead of lecturing, it is also time for partnership within international politics”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade underlined, pointing out: “If certain major players in global politics want to continue to base their politics on lecturing, nothing good will come of it”.

“It is in our interests, those of the Central Europeans, for East and West to be able to cooperate rationally, based on mutual respect”, Mr. Szijjártó said, explaining that if there is rational dialogue and cooperation between them then Central Europe will also be able to feel more secure.  “We must finally believe that every country and every nation knows best what is good for it”, Hungary’s chief diplomat declared. “We must respect each other’s domestic policy decisions and the politics of interference and lecturing has to stop”, Mr. Szijjártó underlined.

In a statement to Hungarian public media, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade also spoke about the fact that the rights of national minorities are often violated within the Eastern European region.

“Without respect for these rights it is difficult to talk about calm international politics”, the Minister noted, adding that for this reason the OSCE must continue to take firm action against the violation of minority rights in future. “In the recent period, Hungarian national communities have also suffered such violations of law, primarily in Ukraine, where several rights of the Hungarian national community have been violated, included with relation to the use of their native language and native language education”, he pointed out.

“We expect the new Ukrainian President and the new Ukrainian leadership to eliminate this unlawful state of affairs”, Mr. Szijjártó underlined.

“It must be made clear that the persecution of Christians in the world is unacceptable”, the Minister highlighted. “The persecution of Christians has to stop, and the fact that many Western European approaches are suggesting that anti-Christianity is the last acceptable form of discrimination must also be brought to an end”, he declared.

(MTI)