Szijjártó: We are asking the EU for a one-year extension on Russian oil imports

One of the main goals of the Hungarian government's foreign policy is the development of relations between Hungary and Slovakia, since there are more things that unite the two countries than separate them, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said after hosting his Slovak counterpart in Budapest on Monday.

At a joint press conference with Miroslav Wlachovsky, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that as a community, the countries of Central Europe face similar challenges in the areas of security, energy supply and migration pressure, MTI reports. He also touched on the energy crisis, stressing that both countries are members of the European Nuclear Coalition, both oppose negative discrimination against nuclear power which is a cheap, safe and sustainable means of generating electricity and insist that the energy mix remains a national competence.

He also touched on EU sanctions against Russia and warned that an important exemption which allows Slovakian oil company Slovnaft, (part of the Hungarian Mol group) to sell oil products derived from Russian crude oil in the Czech Republic will expire at the end of the year.
The company has launched huge investments worth a hundred million euros to make its Bratislava refinery capable of processing oil from other sources, but the works will take another year. As he said,

"it is for this reason that we are asking the European Union to extend this exemption from the sanctions by one year".

The minister also said that the Croatian government, taking advantage of the war in Ukraine, has increased transit fees on the Croatian route, which is an alternative to Russian imports, by around four times the market price, which places a heavy burden on Hungarian and Slovakian oil supplies and makes diversification more difficult.

"We believe that it is dishonourable for someone to profit from a war situation, especially when it comes to the security of other countries' energy supply".

In response to a question, Szijjártó wished the French authorities good luck in restoring order and calm. Elaborating on the subject, he said it was clear that the Western European dream of "the social integration of people arriving en masse, often illegally and forcibly, from other cultures" had become an illusion. That is why, instead of inspiring and encouraging illegal migration, we should finally concentrate on stopping it".

On the Ukraine's potential accession to NATO, he said that this was out of the question for a country at war. "This is something that the vast majority of my foreign minister colleagues tend to acknowledge in private or restricted discussions, but what is later said in public is an entirely different matter".

444 spotted the press conference's stream, and reported that Slovakia's new foreign minister didn't mince his words on his first visit to Hungary. He immediately clarified Slovakia's position on the Russian-Ukrainian war, countering the Hungarian government's propaganda messages on the subject.

Miroslav Wlachovsky, also drew a parallel between the war in Ukraine with the 1956 Hungarian revolution and the events of 1968 during the Prague Spring (at the time, Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia). He compared the history of the two countries in light of the current events, saying that "we know exactly what it is like to be invaded by a foreign country". He said that the existence of a sovereign and stable Ukraine is in the interest of both Slovakia and Hungary.

The Slovak Foreign Minister also touched on the delay in Sweden's accession to NATO, saying that enlargement would clearly strengthen the military alliance and that it would be good if the Hungarian parliament voted in favour of it as soon as possible. It is not yet known when this might happen, but Sweden's prime minister said last week that Viktor Orbán had assured him that Budapest would not delay the Nordic country's accession to NATO.

Szijjártó did not react to Wlachovsky's words.