Fidesz' MEP spoke out in support of Ukraine's territorial sovereignty and right to self-defence at the EP, the Hungarian State News Agency, MTI reports. At Wednesday's plenary session in Strasbourg, Kinga Gál said that "from the beginning of the war", Hungary has clearly condemned Russia's military aggression, which is unjustifiable in international legal and moral terms.
Gál's words seem particularly interesting in light of the fact that on Tuesday, Péter Szijjártó, who has recently proudly posed with both Russian and Belarusian officials, gave a speech in front of a map of Greater Hungary (which includes parts of what is today Ukraine – TN) as he declared that the "transatlantic bubble" is pro-war.
In doing so, he managed to call into question not only Ukraine's territorial sovereignty but also its right to self-defence.
While the insult to our NATO allies is equally difficult to defend, it is particularly odd that in an interview he gave to the BBC, the Hungarian Foreign Minister was not able to clearly answer the question on whether he would like to see Ukraine win the war.
It seems, however, that part of the Orbán government's foreign policy strategy is to try to balance Szijjártó's statements, which can be seen as pro-Russian, with Kinga Gál's speech in the European Parliament. The MEP said that Hungary has always stood by international law, and has thus condemned serial violations of the same, as well as human rights abuses and war crimes.
"We reject acts of inhumanity and injustice. War crimes cannot go uninvestigated and unpunished. The truth must come out."
- the MEP said. She added that the Hungarian government has provided humanitarian aid to Ukraine, especially to Transcarpathia, but that the most important thing is to secure a ceasefire and peace as soon as possible.
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