well it's a part of hungary has long positioned itself as an independent player within the european union capable of putting its foot down and standing up to brussels when it comes to pour national interests but when dealing with the trauma administration is the organ government equally forthcoming in putting hungry 1st to discuss that i'm now joined by the country's foreign affairs minister. this it's always a pleasure seeing you in russia thank you for your time and your help at the river

now judging from your recent interviews one of the most popular words in your vocabulary is hypocrisy involved almost every time you are asked about congress relations with china this russia with the e.u. itself is really so prevalent in your line of work well actually if you look at the european politics recently especially during the campaign of the european parliament elections you will see a big big portion of the political correctness and the fortunes of double standards and the specially when it comes to cooperation with china when it comes to cooperation that we've made russia and when it comes to internal issues of the european union as well sometimes you do have the feeling that some smaller member states. for the same things for which some of those got praised you know and this is this is really something that we have to change that's why we are very vocal about it comes to dubai. the future. debates in very actively.

now the last time i heard you mention that word was in relation to. central and eastern european countries willingness to do business with china and you made the point that bigger countries like germany and france are far ahead in the game and yet for some reason they seem to be rather displeased about other countries willing to catch up how do you interpret that kind of criticism is a competition is it an effort to control is it something else. making business with china is pretty beneficial for everyone because the chinese companies are getting stronger and stronger. chinese investors. are. countries. no question about it i mean the old. laws. for cheap labor knowledge base all of the changes regarding global economy.

by eastern companies as well at least as much as by western companies and if you look at the figures you know figures. the 11. countries have a share of a 9.9 percent 11 countries 9.9 percent when it comes to the china trade. the 5 countries making the biggest business for china are of course of western european countries by germany which we have no problem i mean we why why do you think they have a problem with you know. they always criticize us for business just for the art of criticism for the pressure off. chinese investors in other countries but you know what i'm telling you is that there are 16 the major investments by chinese companies in hungary 1116 are. sold the m. german subsidiaries in hungary immediately became chinese investments so what we

can do for how we know how so the thing is that we are always criticised. the so-called 16 plus one for months but no one raises the same questions on the german chancellor and the french president together meet the chinese leadership and so. you know. how do you explain that it is that. different tiers different sets of rules for different territorial number one this is double standards and number 2 that as i told you at the beginning making business with china is beneficial they don't like to have us as competitors it's a competition issue now the decision making is supposed to be based on consensus which is more than just looking for a compromise or foreign and bargain it's actually derived a learned just recently that derives from the latin word for feeling together and filling a like in the other many of your interviews you keep saying don't pressure as don't

criticize to look at yourself we have to be able to discuss that openly it looks like the old and the new you're somewhat different understanding of consensus do they well unfortunately there have been some debates between the. european countries we absolutely are against. putting the member states of the european union into 2 different leagues. of accession because we are all equal members of the european union our interest is to make european union united and strong again the question is how to get there there are 2 basic approaches one approach. should make a brussels strong and in the meantime the member states this concept called like a concept of the united states of europe which we totally reject and oppose our concept is different because if think that the e.u. can only be strong again. states are getting stronger and stronger so for us

a strong european union must be based on strong member states member states which are proud of their national identity and we stick to their religious historic and cultural heritage i think this debate this question is particularly evident when it comes to the issue of migration and what strikes me is that i think much of that debate is rooted not only in attitudes towards the present policies but also in the past the e.u. was set up as a project that is specifically aimed at avoiding a certain kind of past germany's past 1st and foremost don't you think that it's perhaps institutionally set up to ignore other countries historic sensibilities you know for us the migration issue is number one a security issue. and number 2 issue for an empty issue but it's also utah you keep talking about civilization you're right and you seem to be very much attached to your definition of hungry as it is or as it used to be yeah well actually if you would like to maintain hunger is

a hungry and country and they would like to preserve as a european continent and the. statement that the european continent is a christian continent is challenge to read with. the statement to be challenged you know what exactly by the way you mean by that because there is a great degree of diversity within christianity there is a great degree continuing to believe in judaism christianity and islam i mean what what do you mean by saying christian continent christian heritage is very important our country has been a christian one for more than 1000 years the european union was established was established on the basis of a christian the market what is it specifically for us equality of men and women. the mutual respect the respect virk the forward progress going to come from performance and such kind of things and do things the valleys and not present in other religious traditions or in atheism but you also sometimes go i

don't want to. religions or other of our there are civilizations what i know is that europe was based on these values and these values are definitely the christian values now as you alluded to for the younger and don't seem to be troubled off creating an image of a country that is not very welcoming of migrants in fact i think you are consciously trying to create that image but this is definitely not how the germans would like to be seen is this ultimately a conversation about values a conversation about troubled past or some phobias or is it a conversation about power well 1st of all we would like to preserve our right to make a decision on a. our own between would like to live together and this is number one number 2 we preserve our rights as a super and country to make a decision on our own would like to allow to enter the 3rd through our country on whom we do not want to let. the territory or country when it was about the

migration crisis you know there are 400000 illegal migrants marching through our country while eating garbage order showing totally no respect to or rules regulations expectations regarding behavior or public areas of blocking highways and the railroads so you know the younger people had a very clear instruction towards the government not to have these phenomenon repeated in the future and we have to act accordingly that's why we have built the fence on our border that's why our military and police is there and that's why no illegal migrant was able to enter the territory or a country just said that. people need to have the right of determining what kind of country they want to be but some people would respond to that when the you are joining the european union you're already committed to a certain type of future to certain type of country and to a certain set of values what would you say to that but actually when you become a member of the european union then by definition you exercise part of your

together. with the european union and it's obvious you know putting pressure on the member states to change their identity or to allow people to the territorial given country whom they do not want to a low this is not a european value now following the recent success of the elections the. president of your country had a very interesting statement to make he said that gave us the task of stopping immigration all across europe and i think that seems like a very broad interpretation of he has monday of your. it's argued that the germans or somebody else should not tell the who should live in that country don't you think you should not speak for the germans i think illegal migration stopped at euro price if you were in the results you'll see that in countries where there are

more than 2 parties which is $27.00 of. the highest public support almost 53 percent number 2 is the polish law and justice party who received almost 46 percent then the. people disagree and. so the top 4 parties having a very strong illegal migration agenda illegal migration had a very serious impact on the entire european union look at the figure since 201533 major terrorist attacks. taking place in the european union committed by persons with the migratory background killing more than 300 people or you look at those which were created in the western european societies you see that they pose a security risk and a cultural risk as well because you know i mean such kind of decisions that the symbols of christian faith should be taken all from public institutions is is really. their religion it's also faced similar pressure. for example there is

a pressure off downplaying islamics and i don't know i don't know about any islam country. of the muslim faith was forced to take from any kind of. places but anyway you know when it comes to let's say migration in order to address demography. labor market challenges i think that must be left as a national competence with all the member states we do not need any kind of migration when it comes to be sure and when it comes you allow the germans and others to make that decision for themselves i mean you know we've never judged them . you know prime minister was talking about. you know i mean if a country i mean if we have to leave it doesn't. to make a decision how you would like to address. your challenges or think that.

is a bad answer. for 5 years under enormous pressure. to act according to our best friends. even the legally i think it's one thing to rail against the establishment is another thing to offer an alternative to your party is now still a major voting bloc within the european parliament you are part of the establishment is that going to change. there is a very serious. breach is the biggest group in. the status quo. it was enough. people. came together behind closed doors made some deals and. you were also part of. this is over because the. decrees in the

way that the. question of the rise which. parties should. our position is. a very successful. political spectrum and. we'll see how. that. plays. and we take part in the debate. which way this party group should go in the future now so let us take a very short break now but maybe we'll be back in just a few moments statement.

welcome back to worlds apart of hungary's foreign affairs minister peter c.r. the minister the current government has a blossoming relationship with the trumpet ministration the you've publicly praised it many times for its focus on national interest and it's all well and good until you have competing interests when push comes to shove do you think the trumpet administration would be more receptive to hungary's national interest for example the e.u. has been so far. the president is elected. into the fresh air in the european politics leader of the united states of america 1st and gave us the chance to strengthen our position hungary 1st and you know we based our foreign policy on the principle of mutual respect so we respect the national

interest of others but we expect others to respect the national interest of ours as well was not the case with the former u.s. administrator live let's talk about it because i think one potential bone of contention between the u.n. the americans is your and i just supplies for the time being you're getting much of your natural gas from russia by ukraine but the americans obviously are very eager to replace that or at least supplement that with that supplies which are more expensive and all of the you have guaranteed how is it in hungary's national interest to replace something that's cheaper and more reliable with something that's more expensive and still tammy is because many of those fields and all of that peroration and yet the situation is even. more simple because currently hungary is a country. which is run looked as no access to any kind of port and we have made by building the pipelines to the border by. we are surrounded by countries who have not completed their home was just give you 2 ideas number one.

you still love building. forts in crook number 2 there was a gas explored discovered on the. territory of black sea or the right of exploitation. which is an american company on the beaches in austria they have not made their final investment decision yet to exploit the kind i say we would all do respect even the very complimentary of both of those projects i would totally agree with you i know if you had operational you were very eager to see them moving ahead in fact david corn and i think he is the. sad on a number of occasions that hungry a must that versified senators supplies would be happy to do so but there's no physical what can i do well i mean that's that's still ongoing i think they remain ian filled at least is still ended the discussion but my point to you is why is it

not ok for brussels to tell you what hungry must do and why is it ok for washington to withdraw their american ambassador to tell you what you must do to talk to the americans very openly and very honestly so when we sit together the american ambassador in budapest whom i respect very much i tell him the thing is that physically. because of. because you or your company and the austrians have not made their final investment decision in the rumanian so currently there are 4 friends and allies us. and. it depends whether we can diversify in the future or not but you know he says and operate the industry you cannot make promises and plans you need gas for that and if i can buy gas from croatia because there is no construction and if i cannot buy gas from the. because find the investment this is not me i cannot do anything goes

i just continue cooperation and there is delays in the years mandated projects made hungry consider extending its agreements with gas from do you see that as a temporary as a kind of band-aid until the freedom gas becomes available or is it something more long term i have to tell you honestly but i mean he of the american investor comes to you 6 months down the line and says ok exxon mobil is investing are you going to put the plug on the gas now that i'm the one. when it comes to gas supply what matters to us to be safe i mean predictable and to be cheap that's a competition so we have to take care of both strategic and tactical interests as well and you know it's a competition so whichever is the cheap whatever is the source is the cheaper and whatever source is more reliable we. minister and none of those projects that you mentioned operational yet and yet you already put your. contract through the gas from into question you were considering whether to extend it and not and this is my

question because expires i mean there's a lot of the number of versions has expired because at the end of this year or next year the latest it's expires but you made it sound that russia is your. 3rd they were maybe a 2nd safe option if the americans are not there and i'm asking you whether it is fair to rush or precisely well there may be a member so he never ever while you were at a conference i think it was in taxes when you when you said that you are eager to diversify if the those of the changes are there but there's ever changes are not even put in place why are you discussing them i mean the you said that you need to be safe and stable but that infrastructure does not even exist why us for speaking about that that's why that's why i was in order to their side of the same level with what russia has been supplying to you for decades no one considers on the same level i mean a continuous dialogue with us from this morning. we

have agreed that mr miller. is already delivered. of. continuous negotiations i would like to state here that's what we have agreed so far. has been. for us but. interested in any kind of possibility for diversification. if for example x. in the bill decides to finally in into that remaining failed. excluded and. back on gas i mean there are calls you and says. i don't care about. calling because we. reject any kind of.

drove us to budapest has never made any kind of struck me so this is number one number 2 you know we i mean hungary and companies have. hungary. when it comes to. these national interest so if there's an opportunity to buy gas from a different source. competitive price. another situation of this is. the 3rd. and diversifying. the sources excludes each other. service. to see the. operational. 2021 because if this is the case that's another form of diversification

diversification of routes and they are less what i mean they guess will still be russian them in i assume it cannot compete on the same level as the freedom gas from the united states. actually. it's a market issue you know that in this day and age particularly the trumpet ministration not everything is the market issue i mean they bring politics into almost everything and putting the energy issue aside the trumpet ministration is pretty open about threatening european companies european institutions with sanctions and undercutting the economically. do you think they will ever come a moment when hungry will have to choose freely choose politically and. in brussels and washington well i hope we'll never get in such kind of a position and i tell you why we have a very open economy small but open economy so already our export over g.d.p. ratio is higher than 85 percent so whatever happens on the international markets

determine our national economy performance pretty much 78 percent or export goes to the european union member states but our number one export market outside of the european union is the united states so any kind of debate. the e.u. us economy and trade and investment cooperation is harmful to us number one investor is germany number 2 investor is the united way to say nobody likes choosing between mum and dad but this is the bargain that donut shop sometimes drives and he is very particular about it so when push comes to shove do you feel more aligned do you feel your future and the future hungary's more aligned with the european union or even the american national we are members of the european union for sure our interest is to make european union strong again but i really do believe that if you want to make european union stronger that needs a good cooperation with the united states so i rather instead of making fantasies

about whom to choose i have to concentrate on the successful negotiations between the u.s. and the european union now we talked about the ears and evelyn's about smaller countries dealing with china but the top administration is far more hawkish when it comes to corporation of the beijing and they are reframing it from an economic issue into a security issue and as a member of nato how much room for maneuver do you think hungry has in dealing with china you know in this regard i'm always very honest with my american friends and counterparts as well i myself supervise intelligence as well as foreign minister of foreign affairs minister and so far. i have not received information as we. would have. obstacles on the way of our economy. of the american intelligence i'm sure the you're american or there's. no. evidence is. trying to whoever else or anyone else.

or risk our national security. or whatever harms our national interest security or whatever we reject if you go against. our national interest then we try to cooperate i give you one other example our american colleagues. the president you know from china pretty much and they are i'd be goes. heavily present in hungary. 5 g. infrastructure. because the 2 main. provider a company in hungary contracted them to do so and you know who are those 2 companies. and so the number one german and the number one british telecommunications company so whenever they come to me. way. of the germans and the british finally if i may minister for

a small country congress seems to be very successful at playing at the differences of big powers but it seems that those differences are getting a little bit out of hand i wonder what's your broader outlook on the where the world is having i am more concerned or more excited well. we are definitely excited because changes are going on and i'm pretty sure these changes are extremely quick comprehensive and. these changes that's why we continuously you know make decisions on economy policy how to take advantage of the changes we as i told you. mutual respect respect others respect respect from others as well and we try to take as many advantage of the changes as it's just possible for the benefit of our people so it's always a pleasure talking to you thank you very much for so much more information i encourage our viewers to keep this conversation going in our social media pages and

here again same place same time here and also part of. what politicians do. they put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. or some want to be rich. but you'd like to be closer to see what it looks like 3 of them or can't be good get. into st paul's in

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