Hungary's interests concerning Ukraine have not changed: Hungary wants to see a democratic country which "stands on its own two feet", Prime Minister Orbán said in Brussels on Thursday, following a special EU summit on the situation in Ukraine.
Hungary is interested in a Ukraine where the Hungarian minority feels safe, he underlined. He reiterated that Hungary regards the cancellation of the law which ensured the official use of minority languages (including Hungarian) as illegitimate and unacceptable.
At the summit, leaders of the EU approved Ukraine's request to handle separately its EU Association Agreement and Free Trade Agreement. This will facilitate signing the former at an earlier date and allow more time to negotiate the details of the latter, the Prime Minister said.
The EU should allow Ukrainian nationals to travel the bloc without a visa, Prime Minister Orbán added. Lifting the visa requirement depends not only on a political decision but on a number of other factors, and he recommended that the move should be taken “as quickly and simply as possible”, he said.
The US ban on the export of natural gas was also a subject of discussion at the meeting, the Prime Minister said, adding that the ban should be suspended to reduce the dependence of European countries on Russian gas supplies.
On this subject, he also announced that a “new chapter would soon begin in the history of Hungarian energy management” since this month will see the inauguration of the natural gas pipeline connecting the networks of Hungary and Slovakia, beginning full operation from 2015.
With regard to the gradual introduction of EU sanctions against Russia for its separation of Crimea from Ukraine, the Prime Minister said the EU must respond to the Russian "aggression". He noted that the EU's position was not to mix political and economic issues, and to handle economic cooperation separately from political conflict.
The solution to the crisis should be found through negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. In the absence of such results, the European Union will decide on additional measures, such as travel bans, asset freezes and the cancellation of the EU-Russia summit.
In his speech at the Dublin Congress of the European People's Party, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán urged the Party to formulate a clear standpoint with regard to the situation in Ukraine: "It is not enough to make do with the fact that the previous administration of Ukraine has left, it is equally important to clarify expectations with regard to the new government formed in Kiev following the elections", he declared.
(Prime Minister’s Office)
