The solution to war is peace, not sanctions

The European Parliament has debated the EU-Ukraine summit in today’s plenary session. MEP Tamás Deutsch, Head of the Fidesz Delegation to the European Parliament, stressed that Hungary condemns Russian aggression. We are on the side of the attacked. We stand up for Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity, and we are doing our utmost to help Ukrainian war refugees. We have supported Ukraine’s membership of the European Union from the outset. He pointed out that Brussels promised that sanctions would lead to an end to the war, but instead the war is more brutal than ever, and Europe is being destroyed by sanctions. “Instead of sanctions, we need peace”, MEP Deutsch stressed. Commenting on the debate, President of the Delegation MEP Kinga Gál said that we have supported Ukraine’s accession to the EU from the very beginning. The candidate countries must meet certain criteria, such as the protection of minorities, including the rights of the Hungarian, Romanian and Bulgarian minorities living in Ukraine. 

MEP Tamás Deutsch stressed in his plenary speech that Hungary condemns Russian aggression. Hungary has been on the side of the attacked since the beginning of the war and stands by Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity. We are going above and beyond to help the refugees in Ukraine: we have so far taken in more than a million refugees in the largest Hungarian humanitarian aid programme ever. However, he pointed out that when the first decision on sanctions was taken, Brussels bureaucrats said the sanctions would put Russia in such a difficult position that it would be forced to end the war.   

“A year later, we now see that the war is not only not over, but more brutal than ever. So the objective that sanctions were intended to achieve has not been achieved”, he recalled. But since the sanctions were imposed, inflation has been rampant across Europe, and there is a threat of economic crisis and energy shortages. Sanctions are destroying Europe. Peace is needed. “To achieve this, we must first have a ceasefire, so that no more people die in the war. It would be good for Europe as a whole if we stopped the guns from blazing and tried to make peace through negotiations. We must do everything we can for peace”, the MEP stressed.

According to MEP Kinga Gál, our position is clear: we support Ukraine’s accession to the EU. The accession process should be subject to the same conditions as for other candidate countries. Thus, the observance of the Copenhagen criteria is also crucial, the Fidesz MEP stressed, as the enforcement of the rights of the Hungarian, Romanian and Bulgarian minorities living in Ukraine is a precondition for accession negotiations. According to the MEP, it is precisely these minority communities that could be the most committed supporters of Ukraine’s EU perspective—but the laws currently adopted do not help in advancing this.