Why doesn't Orbán form a union with Putin? – Polish Foreign Ministry hits back at Orbán's speech in Baile Tusnad

"We do not do business with Russia, unlike Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has become marginalized in the international community, both in the European Union and NATO.”

– Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski said on Sunday reacting to the Hungarian Prime Minister's speech delivered on Saturday in Baile Tusnad, Transylvania, Rzeczpospolita reports.

In his speech at the Tusványos Summer University, the Hungarian Prime Minister said that the Poles are "pursuing the most hypocritical and deceitful policy in Europe": they are criticising us for our relations with Russia, while at the same time buying gas from Russia, albeit through intermediaries." In his reaction to this, Bartoszewski also noted that he doesn't understand why Hungary insists on remaining a member of organizations it dislikes so much and which supposedly treat it so badly.

Why doesn't Orbán form a union with Putin and some other similar authoritorian states? If you don't want to be part of a club, you can always leave it."

– the Polish Deputy Foreign Minister stressed, and added that the Hungarian government is currently clearly pursuing an anti-EU, anti-Ukrainian and anti-Polish policy. The Polish politician recalled that Viktor Orbán is currently blocking the two billion zlotys (nearly 468,000 euros) that Poland is supposed to receive from the EU as a reimbursement for Polish military supplies delivered to Ukraine.

“According to the saying, Poles and Hungarians are good friends, but what we have here right now is a big quarrel.”

– Bartoszewski added.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó reacted to Bartoszewski's words in a Facebook post published on Sunday. "This reaction proves the truth of the Hungarian saying that truth hurts. In order to preserve the Polish-Hungarian brotherhood, we have for a long time tolerated the provocations and hypocrisy of the current Polish government, but now the limit has been reached," Szijjártó wrote and argued that "one can certainly find the Poles on the customer list of one of the largest Russian oil companies". He said that there was nothing wrong with that, but "one should not be hypocritical and blame others".

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu had also commented on Viktor Orbán's Saturday speech earlier, wryly asking: "Did he say anything about Romania? Do they want me to forbid him to come to Romania?"