Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Budapest’s presidency of the Council of the European Union does not imply a mandate to mediate the conflict in Eastern Europe, but the post will allow to better know the ultimate goals of the warring parties.
“Let me clarify once again, the Hungarian EU presidency does not give a mandate to negotiate on behalf of the EU, but we can find out which side is ready to go where and after we find out, the EU leaders can already make decisions together, and after the decisions we can already negotiate, we are unfortunately far away from that,” Viktor Orban said on Kossuth radio.
The head of the Hungarian government emphasised that Hungary does not have “sufficient weight” in the European Union. However, according to the politician, Budapest is able to become a means in the hands of “people who want peace” to direct the opposing sides to “a long road, at the end of which there can be a ceasefire and peace talks”.
Earlier, Alexander Konkov, an associate professor of the political science department at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, said that Hungary, during its presidency of the Council of the European Union, would probably try to prevent further escalation of the conflict in Eastern Europe by offering a peaceful option to resolve the military crisis.