Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced after the summit of EU heads of government and state that the immigration aspect of the Ukrainian conflict is not currently on Hungary’s agenda, but may yet be, and whatever happens will be Hungary’s and Poland’s joint concern.
The Prime Minister made it clear that he is not counting on EU support in this respect, adding that Hungarian public administration must prepare for its tasks according to the various scenarios. Slavic countries are already experiencing a slow but steady increase in the number of Ukrainian immigrants, Mr. Orbán explained.
The Government of Hungary is seeking to help maintain a stable situation in Transcarpathia, via financial means as well; as during the summer months livelihoods and subsistence are not an issue, this process has not yet begun in the direction of Hungary.
The Prime Minister was of the opinion that if immigrants do begin arriving from Ukraine, that will be a completely different situation from when African immigrants arrive in Hungary after having passed through several safe countries.
Concerning the issue of sanctions, Mr. Orbán made it clear that Hungary had already explained its opinion and the EU standpoint is a that a joint stance must be put forward on the matter, in addition to which Hungary supports the penalty provisions.
Mr. Orbán explained that at a certain point in the crisis, during the course of negotiations in Minsk between Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, the opportunity arose for Europe to take the management of the European crisis into its own hands. The conflict could be resolved with the help of the Minsk process and everything is not yet lost, he said.
According to the Prime Minister, the real question is whether Europe will be able to solve the problem itself, or a transatlantic solution will be necessary. This, in his view, is also significant because the interests of the United States and Europe in the matter, including the future of cooperation with Russia, are not in line with each other.
The Prime Minister pointed out that – with the exception of Hungary and Slovakia – the United States will install heavy weapons in all of Ukraine’s neighbouring NATO countries, but Budapest has not yet been contacted by Washington with a similar request. Mr. Orbán drew attention to the fact that the effects of this measure are not yet known, and that NATO weaponry will be closer to Russia than ever before as a result.