Slovakia's Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok. (source: Marko Erd for the Sme daily)
Slovakia's Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok understands the stances of Budapest less and less, he admitted in reaction to the statements of Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán from last weekend.
Speaking to the participants of a summer school in Romania on July 23, Orbán spoke of "mixing races" and the decline of the West. He also commented on Hungary's partners within the Visegrad Group, and criticised Slovakia and the Czech Republic for their attitude to the war in Ukraine.
"The Czechs and Slovaks had recent changes in government, and they are now striving to get into Brussels' good graces. This is a decision similar to you trying to stable horses in a barn that's on fire," the Hungarian prime minister said.
Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok denied saying that he puts helping Ukraine first, wrote TASR newswire.
"We find it quite offensive when our close neighbour feels the need to claim that Slovakia and the Czech Republic are doing everything they can to endear themselves to Brussels. I refute that! Nothing can be further from the truth," Korčok stated. "We are doing what we believe is right."
The minister added that both countries do what they feel is best while Hungary takes every opportunity to act differently than the rest of EU. This applies to sanctions towards Russia as well, with Hungary indicating that it will not agree with sanctions on energy sources during the discussion of possible exceptions for countries (Slovakia and Hungary included) depending on Russian gas.
Orbán speech sends quakes around the region
Hungary is a neighbour with close ties to Slovakia and Korčok says that he wishes for the relationship to remain positive.
However, the speech raised eyebrows outside Central Europe. The minister noted that many countries promptly dismissed the speech. Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Lucian Aurescu said that it was regrettable that this speech happened in Romania.
Orbán also blamed the West for "ruining" ties within the Visegrad Group, TASR reported. Slovakia currently presides over the group, with the ambition of bringing the group's shared goals to the fore.
Aside from criticising Czechs and Slovaks, Orbán stated that ties with Poland had become complicated even before the war in Ukraine, despite the fact that both Warsaw and Budapest share the same strategic interests. "We want peace and we don't want Russians coming any closer to us," Orbán said on Saturday.
Additionally, Orbán’s insensitive insinuations regarding Nazi-time gas chambers in comments about Germany angered the Jewish community. His former advisor Zsuzsa Hegedus resigned as a consequence, describing the speech as “pure Nazi text,” reports BBC.
"I don't know how you didn't notice that the speech you delivered is a purely Nazi diatribe worthy of Joseph Goebbels,” wrote Hegedus for the Hungarian hvg.hu news website, as quoted by BBC.
