Hungary’s government and the Austrian right are fighting together for “real democracy” in Europe, so that those who stand up for their national interests and have a different position to the mainstream are not stigmatised, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in Budapest on Friday. The cooperation between Hungary’s government and the Austrian right will “contribute to our ability to preserve our sovereignty and bring to a halt the European Union’s federalisation efforts”, he told a joint press conference with Petra Steger, a spokesperson of Austrian’s Freedom Party (FPO), according to a ministry statement. “We both want to see a successful Europe, but we are certain that Europe can only be successful if it is made up of strong nations,” Szijjártó said.
In addition, he called security an important basis for success, which, he said, made it necessary to finally stop illegal migration, to protect the external borders, and to realise that the war raging in Ukraine had no solution on the battlefield. “Therefore, the Austrian right and the Hungarian government will take a joint stand to ensure that there is a ceasefire and negotiations in Ukraine as soon as possible,” he said.
Szijjártó then noted that this year will be special for both countries as Hungary will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in July and elections will be held in Austria. “We are both interested in stopping this European decline, and we both believe that the only way to do that would be to achieve a massive right-wing shift in the European parliamentary elections,” he said. The minister added that they also had the same view on the EU sanctions against Russia, through which, he said, Europe had “shot its economy in the foot, the knee, and then the lungs”, adding that a review of the punitive measures would be necessary. “We are grateful that we can always count on Austria’s Freedom Party in difficult moments,” Szijjártó said. “And we continue to be ready to cooperate with the Austrian right in order to create a successful and democratic Europe.”