Belarus participates in the EU’s Eastern Partnership programme, Orbán noted. “That partnership cannot be built through sanctions”, he told a press conference held jointly with Lukashenko. Economic cooperation between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union is in the interest of the European community, Orbán added. Concerning Hungary-Belarus ties, Orbán said that “the two peoples and the two countries are much closer than one might think”. He said both countries rejected discrimination against nuclear energy, noting that Hungary was keeping an eye on a nuclear plant Belarus is building with technology similar to what is being used in the upgrade of Hungary’s Paks nuclear plant. Concerning the situation in Ukraine, Orbán said the so-called Minsk peace process was the only hope for resolving the conflict.
Lukashenko referred to Hungary as Belarus’s closest partner in the EU, a country which “understands us more than any other”. Relations between Belarus and the EU have become more pragmatic in recent years, Lukashenko said, underlining Hungary’s role in the development of those ties.