“There will be no Trojan horse anymore” – Szijjártó’s EU colleagues met without him for the first time

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys spoke of the Hungarian election results as ”a great development in Europe" when he arrived at Tuesday's meeting of the Council of EU Foreign Ministers.

“There will be no Trojan horse in our castle, in our room anymore, and that is a good thing",

he said. His Hungarian counterpart, Péter Szijjártó, skipped the meeting, just as Viktor Orbán will not attend the EU summit of heads of state and government beginning this Thursday, citing the transition of power.

Transcripts and audio recordings of conversations between outgoing Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, were released a few weeks ago. Among other things, these had to do with EU sanctions which are decided by the Council, as well as remarks made during the Council’s meetings. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she intends to raise the issue at the level of the heads of state and government and is awaiting an explanation from the outgoing Hungarian government.

Budrys also stressed that “what was done before should not be forgotten.” The allegations that “information was shared from our room with the Russian side” must be investigated thoroughly.

“We cannot allow those kinds of breeches to go without investigation. This is important.”

Commenting on the absence of his Hungarian counterpart and the allegations against him, Austrian State Secretary Sepp Schellhorn welcomed the fact that Hungarians had chosen a pro-European path.

“Obviously, now we are at the point where we're going to move from a European Union of 26+1 to a European Union of 27,” Romanian Foreign Minister Oana-Silvia Țoiu said. She expressed hope that the first accession chapters with Moldova and Ukraine could be opened soon, as she believes too much time has already been wasted, and this comes at a geopolitical cost.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna expressed hope that the result of the Hungarian election “will change the picture we’ve had here in the Council during the last couple of years,” and that they will now be able to approve the €90 billion loan intended for Ukraine, which was unanimously agreed upon in December by the leaders of the member states, including Viktor Orbán. (The Hungarian government subsequently blocked one of the pieces of legislation—which would have required a loan that imposes no financial burden on Hungary—due to the shutdown of the Druzhba oil pipeline.)

According to Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot, they remain hopeful that the recent, anticipated, and welcome election results in Hungary will make the loan for Ukraine possible very soon.

Artjoms Uršuļskis, Parliamentary Secretary at Latvia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that they see a great window of opportunity now, following the Hungarian election. In his view, they must return to the legislation required for the loan and the next Russian sanctions package they had been working on, the adoption of which was also blocked by the Hungarian government.

Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said she had already spoken with her future Hungarian counterpart, Anita Orbán. At the end of the meeting, Kaja Kallas, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said she expected a positive decision on the Ukrainian loan within the next 24 hours.