Hungary has by and large significantly improved its relations with neighbouring countries over the past three years, Foreign Minister János Martonyi said on Tuesday.
He told the annual meeting of diplomats in Budapest that building trust is a time-consuming task but hope should never be abandoned. For a long time, there seemed to be no hope of progress in Serbia's case, but eventually the country recognised the collective rights of minorities, and the two presidents have recently made gestures of reconciliation, he added.
The Government has never intended to keep silent about disputed issues, but it is often more useful not to ratchet up tensions, he added.
The better Hungary can cooperate with neighbouring countries, and the more successful Central European cooperation becomes, the more conditions are likely to improve for ethnic Hungarians beyond the borders, Martonyi said.
He said the current government had offered simplified Hungarian citizenship applications "with an almost complete national consensus." This measure has been of major importance yet tensions in central Europe has been absent besides a dispute in the case of Slovakia which it is hoped will soon be resolved, he added.
Issues raised by the European Commission regarding Hungary are likely to be settled soon, Mr Martonyi said. These can be resolved because instead of making general ideological and political statements, they address concrete issues, he added.
Commenting on a report on fundamental rights in Hungary by rapporteur Rui Tavares approved by the European Parliament, he said it expressed a political stance and Hungary has therefore responded by expressing its own political stance. If the EU's systems are gradually dismantled, the entire system and the balance of institutions will be endangered, he added.
Commenting on the EU's Eastern Partnership programme, he said it is in the interest of Central Europe that the EU take a marked step forward. Also, if Europe wants to get stronger it should establish partnership cooperation with Russia. The Eastern Partnership programme should not be considered a scheme that stands in the way of EU-Russia relations, he added.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MTI)
