Budapest (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The boycotts of Friday’s EU finance minister session in Budapest have only made the country more robust, Hungary’s finance minister Mihály Varga stated.
After the meeting, Varga expressed that the “long list of our participants” for Friday’s meeting indicates that “the newest sanctions incentive of Brussels has, in this case, performed for the benefit of the Hungarian presidency.” Hungary currently carries the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, during which time Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has launched self-declared “peace missions” to Kyiv, Moscow, Beijing, and Washington and asserted — without authorization — to be symbolising the European Union, sparking fierce objection from ministers and a boycott by the EU Commission.
Only six ministers of 27 observed the meeting, including Varga himself. However, international organizations sent high-level participants, including the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, and the Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Matthias Cormann.
Why did Hungary consider the boycotted EU session a success?
Varga expressed the participation of “financial institutions of key importance” like the IMF and OECD attendance made the arrangement “a success in all aspects.” He added that “despite the idea of the boycott, all member states represented themselves. We have always said that sanctions often work the other way around,” Varga expressed. The IMF has acquired widespread criticism from EU countries over its intent to visit Moscow, with nine finance ministers expressing that the visit “will undoubtedly be used for propaganda purposes by the Russian regime.”
Asked regarding the criticisms leveled at the IMF, Varga expressed that “some countries” raised the issue during Friday’s meeting, but that the IMF provided a “reasonable explanation about the circumstances ” that the Moscow visit is in line with IMF rules.
What was Varga’s stance on the use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine?
Asked about the European Commission’s strategy to use the profits generated by frozen Russian assets to support a loan to Ukraine, which was presented to ambassadors in Brussels, Varga expressed it was not discussed during the ministerial conference in Budapest, but “we have a different opinion” about providing weapons to Ukraine.
