Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó promised to defend Hungarian communities at the plenary session of the Forum of Hungarian MPs of the Carpathian Basin in the Parliament Building in Budapest on Friday.

“Hungarian foreign policy continues to insist that we will not sacrifice the rights of Hungarian communities on the altar of any kind of geopolitical interest no matter what the pressure, regardless of the level of that pressure and, if appropriate, which good friend it comes from”, Mr. Szijjártó declared, promising the members of the Hungarian national community in the Carpathian Basin that they can continue to count on the Hungarian Government and on Hungarian foreign policy.

On the subject of Ukraine, he stressed: “No matter what ‘large or strong friend’ applies pressure to Hungary, the Hungarian Government will not give up its policy, within the framework of which it is vetoing the convening of NATO-Ukraine committee sessions and is not supporting measures aimed at furthering the European or Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine until the Ukrainian Government does away with its anti-Hungarian politics and returns the rights that have been stripped from Ukrainian Hungarians in recent years via parliamentary decisions”.

According to the Foreign Minister, what Ukraine is doing to the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia goes against European values and contravenes international law. “In addition”, he continued, “the proposals on the agenda of Ukraine’s Parliament would put the 150-thosand strong Hungarian community in an increasingly difficult position, and they would be split into three public administration units within the framework of public administration reforms”.

“Hungary and the Hungarian Government will remain Central Europe orientated in future, with relation to which everyone must continue to count on an extremely strong Carpathian Basin focus”, Mr. Szijjártó said. The Minister said that in his opinion Central Europe is one of the winners of the major changes of recent years, as also proven by the fact that the region has become the engine of European growth, and by the fact that an alliance of previously unimaginable strength has come about between the region’s states.

Mr. Szijjártó recalled that a few years ago there was still debate on the correct policy: whether solutions to the difficulties that affect Hungarian communities should be set as a prerequisite with relation to all other issues relating to neighbouring countries, or whether friendship should be developed with each other in other areas in the interests of finding solutions to disputed issues.

According to the Minister, the pragmatic decision that Hungary should strive to maintain good relations with its neighbours has most certainly improved living conditions for Hungarian national communities, as also confirmed by the leaders of Transcarpathian Hungarian organisations.

“Economic cooperation between Hungary and its neighbours in the Carpathian Basin has expanded dynamically over the past ten years; trade flow has increased by 61 percent, which has created a level of mutual dependence economically that necessitates and makes indispensable the development of cooperation within other fields of life”, he stated.

According to the Minister’s report, a total of 60 billion 800 million forints (EUR 193 million) in funding was provided to 37 thousand small and medium-sized enterprises and agricultural businesses in 2016, 2017 and 2018, generating 108 billion forints (EUR 342 million) in investment.

He noted that the cross-border economic development programmes will continue this year: In Transylvania, tenders will be published for 25 billion forints in funding for major agricultural investments in Szekler Land, major investment projects involving integration in Upper Hungary will have a budget of 10 billion forints available, village catering industry businesses and tourism investment projects, and the purchasing of village homes, will be provided with 1.5 billion forints in assistance, while 1 billion forints each will be available for village house and farmland purchasing in Prekmurje and the Drávaszög region.

“With the exception of Ukraine, we have also succeeded in coming to an agreement with the political leadership of all of the countries affected on the fact that they should not regard these programmes with hostility, but ‘despite the stormy conditions’ the program is also continuing in Transcarpathia, with a tender budget of 5.2 billion forints (EUR 16.5 million). “We have an interest in reinforcing Hungarian national communities on site”, Mr. Szijjártó said in summary.

The Minister also spoke about the fact that the construction of new border crossing stations will also continue this year: in May, a new crossing point will be opened on the Hungarian-Slovenian border, and another on the Hungarian-Serbian border, and by the end of 2021 six new border crossing points will be opened along the Hungarian-Slovakian border, including two new bridges across the River Ipoly.

(MTI)