BUDAPEST, January 26. /TASS/. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met on Thursday with Karoly Szita, President of the National Association of Local Municipal Governments, who had sent a letter to the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, calling for a review of the sanctions policy against Russia.
Szita is also the mayor of Kaposvar, the administrative center of the Somogy region, 190 km southwest of Budapest.
"In this era of peril, many settlements have found themselves in a difficult situation due to the war, Brussels’ failed sanctions and the energy crisis. We will protect the Hungarian people!" Orban wrote on his Facebook page (banned in Russia as it is owned by Meta Corporation designated as extremist by the Russian authorities).
The head of the government published photos with Szita in his official residence, located in the former Carmelite monastery in Budapest.
The Prime Minister's spokesman, Bertalan Havasi, said they "discussed what kind of assistance the state can provide to municipalities in difficult situations."
In October of last year, Szita sent a letter to von der Leyen urging the European Commission to reconsider its sanctions policy because it did not achieve its goal and did not lead to an end to the conflict in Ukraine. Szita invited his colleagues - the mayors of all urban settlements in Hungary - to also sign this message addressed to Brussels. In November, he reported that more than 80% of Hungary's municipalities, or 2,551 local authorities, had joined the initiative.
At about the same time, national consultations were taking place in Hungary on attitudes towards EU sanctions against Russia. About 1.4 million Hungarian citizens took part in this survey and, according to the results, 97% of them did not support restrictions on the supply of Russian gas, oil, coal, timber, as well as on cooperation with Russia in the field of nuclear energy.