Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
Thierry Monasse | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The European Union should have “isolated” the Ukraine war, Hungary’s foreign minister said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday.
The “European Union should have isolated this war in Ukraine, but instead.” [the] The European Union has globalized war,” said Péter Szijjártó at the Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong.
Szijjártó criticized Europe’s response to the conflict, saying it was leading to a divide between East and West.
“One of the global effects of the war is that the world seems to be divided into blocs again, and that’s bad because if there’s no communication between countries, if there’s no cooperation between countries, then you basically give the hope for peace,” he said.
The European Union did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
It is not the first time that Hungary’s foreign minister has condemned the EU’s handling of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Szijjártó said in January that Brussels’ sanctions against Russia appeared to have “failed to meet expectations” and had damaged European economies more than Russia.
“Russia’s economy is definitely not in ruins. We may judge differently how poorly they are doing, but they are not down and the war is not ending. And Europe’s economy is suffering more from sanctions than from the Russian economy,” he told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“Europe is in a bad state”
Speaking at the Belt and Road Summit, Szijjártó emphasized how successful he believes the Belt and Road Initiative, a spending plan to strengthen trade infrastructure between China and around 150 other countries, would be.
“BRI will not only survive but also continue to thrive… because all participants, including European countries, will derive many benefits from it,” he said.
“Europe is in bad shape economically and in terms of security, so we need cooperation partners who are successful, who give us impetus, who give us the chance to grow faster,” he added.
The initiative was originally launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, but the ambitious strategy has encountered countless political and logistical hurdles over the past decade.
Source : www.cnbc.com