We are in talks about supporting Ukraine's EU accession, but we have certain conditions – Gergely Gulyás

At this week's Government Press Briefing, hosted by Minister of the Prime Minister's Office Gergely Gulyás and Government Spokesperson Eszter Vitályos, Gulyás started by announcing that at its Wednesday sitting, the Hungarian government assessed the state of the war in Ukraine and discussed how Europe and Hungary's allies are reacting to the situation on the Ukrainian frontlines. Gulyás said that the situation is getting more and more complicated, with the Ukrainians no longer able to hold their previous positions, which is why they are now "enforcing conscription" in the country. The minister pointed out that Hungarians living in Transcarpathia are also in danger of being conscripted, and added that Hungary will not extradite Ukrainians who have previously fled to Hungary.

Gulyás described Manfred Weber's recent statement on mandatory conscription and the plans to send soldiers from NATO member states to Ukraine as "worrying". If NATO wants to go into Ukraine, the Hungarian government will only support decisions that will keep the country out of the war, both physically and financially, he said.

“We are in talks about supporting Ukraine's EU accession, but we have certain conditions”

"The Hungarian EU Presidency and Ukraine's EU accession have nothing to do with each other" Gulyás said, adding that no matter who holds the EU presidency, decisions will have to be taken unanimously. He added that they are negotiating with Ukraine on their EU membership, but they have certain conditions. The minister was responding to Euroactiv's report according to which there are fears in Brussels that with the Hungarian EU presidency starting on 1 July, negotiations on Ukraine's EU accession could be stalled.

Regarding the recent statement of House Speaker László Kövér about Ukraine being a non-existent state, Gulyás said that Hungary recognizes Ukraine in accordance with international law.

He added that it was no coincidence that Kövér made such a statement, as in his opinion the country would not be able to function for long without Western aid.

No sensitive data obtained during Russian cyber attack

Gulyás has no knowledge about the Russian ambassador having been summoned to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry over his country's secret services hacking the Hungarian Foreign Ministry's IT systems in 2021. According to Gulyás, hacking attempts against state ministries are a regular occurrence, and there are other countries doing this too, not only the Russians. He could not recall any instance when an ambassador had been summoned over such a case.

According to Gulyás, the Russian cyber attack on the Hungarian Foreign Ministry was completely ordinary and no sensitive data was leaked. In the case of this particular attack, there was no need for the government to report it to NATO.

Gulyás said that if any other country had launched a similar attack against Hungary, the government would have reacted in the same way.

When asked whether lying is acceptable during a campaign, Gulyás said it is generally not acceptable. In 2022, when commenting on the article published by investigative journalism center, Direkt36 about a serious hacker attack by Russians on the Hungarian Foreign Ministry's servers, the government called the information a campaign hoax. Gulyás now said this was because it was not true that the breach was serious.

On the other hand, internal documents obtained and recently published by 444 prove that there was extensive and significant damage, but when this was brought up to him, Gulyás also said that it was a simple hacking, no confidential data had been obtained. At the time, the head of the National Security Special Service wrote that sensitive data had been leaked, but Gulyás claimed that according to the latest data this was not true, and – contrary to previous expert opinions –

he repeatedly and categorically denied that the attack affected the Foreign Ministry's entire system, that it was successful and that confidential data had been extracted.

When a country honors a minister with a medal, it is usually accepted," Gulyás said, answering a question about Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó accepting an award from the Russian Foreign Minister shortly after that country's hacking attack on Hungary.

To a question about how he would describe Hungary's relationship with Russia, he replied that it was "a partnership based on mutual interests".

“The EU should not distance itself from the economic opportunities offered by China on ideological grounds”

In the last 5-10 years, China's role in the global economy has reached that of the United States and it could well become the world's leading economy in the next 10 years. America does possess the potential to compete with China, but due to Brussels' self-destructive behavior, the European Union will not be able to do so, Gulyás said.

The Hungarian government wants to cooperate with the best in all fields, which explains the cooperation with the Chinese, Gulyás explained. He also added that the EU ought not to distance itself from the economic opportunities offered by China on ideological grounds.

Gulyás: Anyone who thought that the law matters more in the European Union than it did in the Soviet Union was mistaken

"Anyone who thought that law matters more in the European Union than it did in the Soviet Union was mistaken," Gergely Gulyás said, adding that there are of course no labor camps yet. This came up in the context of the Article 7 procedure, when he opined that Brussels was only using it for political reasons. He added that Article 7 has nothing to do with the arrival of EU funds, they continue to come in steadily.

Robert Fico’s assassin certainly “pro-war”, Gulyás says

In the wake of the assassination attempt on Robert Fico, PM Viktor Orbán has persistently claimed that the gunman was a leftist. When asked about this, Gulyás said that the perpetrator has had a long path of "ideological delusions". One thing is certain: we are talking about a pro-war individual. He did not specifically say that the man was not a supporter of the left, but said that in his opinion anyone who is pro-war in Hungary today is usually a leftist.