Standing next to Szijjártó, Czech FM says Russian imperialism greatest threat to Europe

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský visited Budapest on Friday for talks with Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, which were followed by a joint press conference. This was the first time that the Czech Foreign Minister, in office since 2021, has visited the Hungarian capital for bilateral talks.

In his speech, the Hungarian Foreign Minister thanked Lipavský for accepting his invitation and noted that it had been a long time since they had had the honor of receiving the Czech Foreign Minister at a bilateral meeting in Hungary.

Szijjártó spoke about the upcoming Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. He said that the European Union is currently in a state of decline, but the Hungarian presidency would like to change this, and they also intend to keep "real Central European" issues on the agenda. "During our presidency, we want to focus on the efficiency of the fight against illegal migration, on speeding up the enlargement of the European Union towards the Western Balkans and on ensuring energy security," he said. On the latter, he noted that Hungary is ready to involve Czech companies in Hungarian nuclear development and “we are also well positioned to have Hungarian companies take part in Czech nuclear development”.

"As far as bilateral cooperation between Hungary and the Czech Republic is concerned, it is much closer than generally recognised. This is probably our fault, as we don't talk about it much," Szijjártó said, and then stressed that the Czech Republic is Hungary's sixth most important trading partner, with a record trade turnover of more than 14 billion euros last year.

Jan Lipavský thanked Hungary for the invitation and said that the Czech Republic was ready to contribute to the success of Hungary's EU Presidency and that he was very pleased that one of the priorities of the Hungarian Presidency was the enlargement of the European Union towards the Western Balkans.

The Czech Foreign Minister then spoke at length about the Russian-Ukrainian war. "I think it is a well-known fact that the Czech Republic sees Russian imperialism as the greatest threat and risk to Europe. The Czech Republic will support Ukraine as long as it is necessary. It is in Europe's interest that Ukraine defends itself, defends itself against Russian aggression and reclaims all its territory. This is not only a realistic but a necessary goal as well, unless we want Russia to threaten us even more in the future. We must use force to prevent the redrawing of borders in Europe, because this would threaten international order, international stability and prosperity.

No one is doing more for Europe's security at the moment than the Ukrainians, which is why we support President Zelensky's peace plan and, at the moment, see it as the only realistic way to end the war.

In fact, Russia is violating all the basic security principles, it’s attacking nuclear power plants with its military and the threat of it seizing them, occupying them and taking control of them is real. So these are the important security issues we are talking about," Lipavský explained.

Szijjártó: The campaign against Chinese companies is dentrimental to the European economy

After the speeches concluded, the foreign ministers answered questions from journalists. In response to a question from ATV, Péter Szijjártó said that they were looking forward to welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping to Budapest from 8 to 10 May and added that more details about the Chinese President's visit would be provided on Monday.

"As for Chinese automotive companies. We absolutely do not approve of the efforts that are pointing towards the trend of the world being divided into blocks. [...] I consider the campaign against Chinese companies detrimental to the European economy, because here, in Hungary, we see the very close links between German and Chinese companies, and we also see that certain German corporate strategies, whose success is also in Europe’s interest, cannot succeed without Chinese supplies, that is a fact.

One can conjure up ideologies and say that this is politically unacceptable, but the fact remains. I am constantly being asked by the heads of large German companies to bring their Chinese suppliers to Hungary. This is also why CATL came to Hungary, with the biggest investment in Hungary's economic history, to cater to Mercedes. I don't understand what they are talking about in Brussels, they probably have no idea how the most important process in world economy, the transition to electromobility, is happening in real life. And by the way, if a Chinese company sets up production in Hungary, it is no longer exposed to the threat of customs duties because its production is carried out in Europe," Szijjártó said.

What kind of peace agreement?

When asked whether an Orbán-Zelensky meeting could take place in the near future, Szijjíártó said, “Our position is clear: if all the rights the Hungarian national minority had in 2015 are restored, then there can be a meeting. Not when the promise is made, but when their rights have been restored, then there can be a summit. We are ready for it. Our expectations are clear, we have communicated them in 11 points, I am in constant contact with my colleague Jermak, my colleague Kuleba, they know what we want, they know what our expectations are. I hope that they will take them into account one day.”

The Czech public broadcaster asked Szijjártó what kind of peace agreement the Hungarian government considers possible between Russia and Ukraine.

"We think that neither Russia nor Ukraine can win this war, regardless of how many weapons are or are not supplied to the region, and if no one can win, it would be good to end the whole thing as soon as possible through negotiations.

And as for what the peace agreement should be? I think we should first talk about having peace negotiations. And I am convinced that at these peace talks, all the warring parties should be present at the table. Unfortunately, historically, we have a different experience in this respect, which is why I would like to state that we believe that good peace negotiations are those in which all warring parties are sitting at the table", the Hungarian Foreign Minister said.

Lipavský also answered this question, saying that Ukraine should be a sovereign participant in any peace negotiations.

"Decisions on Ukraine cannot be made without them, and it is important to respect the principle of territorial integrity, so we need to find a solution that will be acceptable to Ukraine. The situation is not simple, and from our point of view we must be aware that we have to put the security of Europe first. In 1938, when the European powers agreed on peace, it was the wrong peace, it was a policy of non-intervention that led to the outbreak of the Second World War. [...] We will definitely stand up to the aggressor and support the ten-point peace plan that President Zelensky represents," said the Czech Foreign Minister.

The Czech Foreign Minister brought an opinion piece to Budapest

On the occasion of his visit to Budapest, Jan Lipavský published an opinion piece in the Hungarian online news portal 444. In it, he extended his best wishes for the forthcoming Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. "We agree on most of the priorities – whether it is strengthening the EU's competitiveness, supporting cooperation with the Western Balkans and the countries of the Southern Caucasus, including the need for building the rule of law or fighting illegal migration. At the same time, how we deal with Russia's growing aggression against the West is crucial for Europe's future," he wrote.

He wrote that the 1956 Hungarian Revolution was crushed by the Russian tanks that later invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 and are now in Ukraine. “It is naive to think that if Russia wins in Ukraine, its tanks will stop at our borders.”

Referring to Milan Kundera’s writing, he also added that after World War II, Moscow kidnapped Central Europe and incorporated it in the Russian sphere of influence, where it never belonged and never wanted to be. He said that one of the most important tasks of the West, the European Union and NATO right now is to prevent Moscow's renewed attempt to "kidnap" Europe.