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Hungary has no plans to leave European Union — top diplomat

Hungary takes part in debates on the future of the European Union because it is interested in strengthening it, the country's foreign minister told TASS
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto AP Photo/Petr David Josek
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto
© AP Photo/Petr David Josek

MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/. Hungary takes part in debates on the future of the European Union because it is interested in strengthening it and not because it is exploring the possibility of leaving it, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told TASS on Friday.

"No, this is stupid," he said when asked whether there were grounds for forecasts that Hungary could set a course towards leaving the EU. "Of course, we don’t want to leave the European Union. We are interested in strong European Union. And we think that the strong European Union must be based on strong member-states. In order to make the European Union strong again we take part in those debates, which are about the future of the EU."

Relations between Hungary and the EU governing bodies became strained in 2018 amid the migrant crisis. Budapest opposed the proposed refugee quotas. The European Parliament accused Hungary of moving away from democratic principles and advised the Council of the EU to impose fines on it. Against that backdrop, some media outlets and experts came up with forecasts saying that Hungary could leave the EU taking its cue from the UK.