Szijjártó: We do not hate Ukraine

All sections of the Druzhba (Friendship) oil pipeline are operational, but Ukraine has decided not to resume transport via the pipeline, and until this happens, the Hungarian government will block all decisions benefiting Ukraine, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Monday.

Szijártó spoke ahead of the EU ministers' meeting in Brussels almost exactly four years after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. A new sanctions package was planned to be adopted on the anniversary the following day, but the Hungarian government announced last week that it would block this and any decision relating to Ukraine until oil shipments via the Friendship pipeline resume. (The pipeline system running from Russia through Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia was shut down after a Russian attack at the end of January by Ukraine, but the Hungarian government claims it would be suitable for transit.)

Speaking on his way to the meeting in a Facebook video, Szijjártó compared the proposed measures to a stick figure flexing its muscles. On arriving at the meeting, he repeated that despite the weekend attack on a section of the pipeline in Tatarstan, "the entire pipeline remains operational," so "it is up to the Ukrainian state to decide whether to restart" deliveries, and if so, when. He claimed that the pipeline itself had not been hit by Russian strikes and had not been damaged. He considered the fact that oil had not yet started flowing to be a political decision and blackmail, "an obvious collusion with "Brussels" and the Hungarian opposition".

The minister believes that the sanctions against Russia are pointless, and added that they have never supported anything that would have "fundamentally harmed Hungary's national interests." As for the other points to be voted on, he said that "if Europeans want to harm themselves, that's a big problem, but it is what it is," speaking in the third person plural about the continent's inhabitants, as he has done many times before.

"We do not hate Ukraine, but the Ukrainian state hates Hungary," he said, adding that Ukraine has pursued anti-Hungarian politics for the past ten years, it is now threatening Hungary's energy security and has failed to restore the rights of Hungarians in Transcarpathia.

Hungarian oil purchases account for only 0.2 percent of Russia's gross national product, and it is every country's sovereign decision where it buys its oil, he said in response to a question about why the Hungarian state is financing the war.

Negotiations are underway on a new package of sanctions as well, but "I don't think there will be any progress" on the issue, Kaja Kallas, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy announced upon arriving at the meeting. "Let's listen to them," the Hungarian government will be able to explain its reasons, she said, adding that they have heard some very strong statements from the Hungarian government, so she does not expect an agreement to be reached.

The Hungarian government has also announced that it would block the €90 billion loan, which the EU intended to pay out to Ukraine as early as April. A preliminary agreement on the loan was reached last December by the heads of state and government in the European Council. Viktor Orbán and his 26 colleagues unanimously declared that the "European Council agreed on a €90 billion loan to Ukraine, but this will have no financial impact on three member states, including Hungary.” In order for the agreement to be implemented, three pieces of legislation must be passed. In the case of one of them, a method tailored to a group of member states, an enhanced cooperation will be used, while in the case of another, unanimous consent is required because the common budget's room for maneuver, or "headroom," would be used as collateral. This means that the Hungarian government should also approve what Fidesz has been referring to as a "war loan".

Szijjártó reiterated the government's position that they would be blocking the "war loan" in his message recorded en route to Brussels. When asked why they were not supporting what had previously been unanimously agreed upon by the heads of state and government, he stated, "The situation has changed."