Hungary supports all peace plans, but someone needs to take the first step – Orbán

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that Hungary supports all peace plans because it remains unclear which one of them will succeed. He has added that peace will not be achieved unless someone takes the first step. Source: Magyar Nemzet, citing Viktor Orban during a press conference following the Centrist Democrat International (CDI-IDC) meeting 

Details: Orban said that there are two ways of looking at Ukraine's future in this war: one is to consider a military solution possible, and another is to deem such a solution impossible and to stress instead reaching a ceasefire and holding peace talks. During the CDI meeting on Thursday, 18 May, Orban also discussed the political situation in Europe and said that reaching a ceasefire in Ukraine was of the utmost importance.

The Hungarian Prime Minister believes that the "true essence" of the conflict is still unclear, with some believing that a proxy war is being fought in Ukraine while others insist that there is a war directly between the two countries. "No one knows which peace plan can succeed, which is why Hungary supports all the existing initiatives," he stressed.

"Ukraine is our neighbour; a Hungarian community lives there, and the war has claimed the lives of Hungarians. The conflict is not just a national loss for Ukraine, but also for Hungary," Orban added.

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In his comments about the European Peace Facility, Orban emphasised that the mechanism was originally created with European security as its key focus, not the war in Ukraine.

"The facility aims to strengthen security in all of Europe, but so far the money is primarily used to support Ukraine. In Hungary's view, it is necessary to establish whether the facility continues to serve its original purpose, pan-European security, or whether it is turning into a means of military support for Ukraine. That is why Budapest is blocking further payments [to the European Peace Facility]," the Hungarian Prime Minister explained.

Background: The Hungarian government confirmed on Tuesday that it has not approved the disbursement of the next EUR500 million tranche from the European Peace Facility (EPF).

Budapest said it would block the EPF as long as Ukraine keeps listing Hungary's OTP Bank as an international war sponsor.

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