Hungary must strive for a good relationship with Ukraine – Gulyás

The Hungarian government held its first meeting of the year on Wednesday, during which they evaluated the situation in the EU, and according to Gergely Gulyás, they welcomed the fact that "the arrival of EU funds into the country has been steady", as this also signals that all is well with the Hungarian justice system. They also welcomed Wednesday's EP debate, where Gulyás said it became clear that further EU payments were conditional on the Hungarian government changing its views on LGBTQ and migration-related issues. However, the Hungarian people expressed their will about these matters in a referendum.

On the issue of financial support for Ukraine, Gulyás said they were in talks with the European Commission on this, but their positions were far apart, so it was not certain that an agreement would be reached. But "this is not a tragedy", the minister said, adding that a solution could still be found in the 2026 framework. He did add, however, that "Hungary has not ruled out supporting Ukraine on a bilateral basis".

According to the minister,

the possibility of improving relations between Hungary and Ukraine cannot be ruled out, and Hungary must strive for good relations with the neighbouring country. We must not give up hope that there can be a change in Hungarian-Ukrainian relations.

As examples, Gulyás mentioned that the Slovak parliament had previously condemned a statement made by Viktor Orbán, but now the relationship between the two countries is good, and he also brought up Serbia as another example of improved relations.

In response to a question, Gulyás said that the planned meeting of Hungarian and Ukrainian foreign ministers is already a preparatory meeting for the Orbán-Zelenesky meeting. He added that the meeting between the Hungarian Prime Minister and the Ukrainian President should only take place if there is a purpose to it, it's not worth it just for the sake of photos.

When asked what topics could Viktor Orbán and Volodymyr Zelensky discuss at a meeting, Gulyás said that they could discuss restoring the former conditions for Hungarian education in Ukraine, as well as humanitarian aid to Transcarpathia, "but there are many other topics on which the Prime Minister and the President could exchange views".

The Swedes are behaving as if the vote on their NATO membership was not important to them

Would NATO be stronger if Sweden were a fully integrated member? – Telex asked. Gulyás responded by saying that more countries ensure greater strength, but Sweden would be a minimal contributor, as the bulk of NATO's military strength is provided by 5-6 countries anyways. He also said that the Swedes were behaving as if the vote on their NATO membership was not important to them, and added that the Hungarian government still wants to avoid being the last to ratify the Swedish accession.

Collecting signatures in the EP against Hungary a “self-serving, pleasure-seeking exercise”

"It was a self-serving, pleasure-seeking exercise of a few extremist liberal MEPs", Gergely Gulyás said, when asked to comment on Finnish MEP, Petri Sarvamaa's campaign to call on EU governments to strip Hungary of its voting rights in the European Council.