Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that as a small country, Hungary cannot offer big solutions, but has negotiated a possibility for a ceasefire in Ukraine at Christmas and an exchange of 700 soldiers with Russia, BTA reported.
We have seen that there is no solution on the battlefield - then diplomacy is needed and it should be the leading approach, otherwise the end of the war is not in sight, he said at a press conference after the end of the last meeting of the European Council for the year.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Orban, whose country is ending the presidency of the EU Council, considered the decision for the full accession of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen as one of Hungary's successes.
In The conclusions of the meeting state that the heads of state and government of the EU countries welcome the decision to lift checks at the land Schengen borders of Bulgaria and Romania from 1 January next year. This was a historic decision and a huge step forward, said von der Leyen.
On the other topics of the meeting, the President of the European Council António Costa pointed out that the EU remains united in encouraging Ukraine to win a just and lasting peace. Only Ukraine can define what peace means and when the conditions for negotiations have been met, he explained. The EU is ready to do whatever is necessary, for as long as necessary, to put Ukraine in a strong position for what comes next, Costa said.
The EU is determined to continue working with the US pragmatically and to strengthen Euro-Atlantic ties. The UK is a strategic partner, there is new positive energy in bilateral relations. The EU would like to see a peaceful transition in Syria, while preserving territorial integrity. The EU has reached out to the new authorities and will deepen its diplomatic presence in Damascus, the European Council President added.
Von der Leyen noted that the EU has established channels for political contacts with the "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" group and called for the returns of Syrian refugees to be voluntary and in dignified conditions. On the issue of Ukraine, she noted that the EU is providing more weapons to Kiev than the US and added that the priority remains to maintain strong transatlantic ties. We must be ready to start negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU in substance early next year, Von der Leyen insisted. She noted that Hungary has made progress on several of the topics on the EU agenda.
Prime Minister Orbán said that as a small country, Hungary cannot offer big solutions, but has negotiated the possibility of a ceasefire in Ukraine at Christmas and an exchange of 700 soldiers with Russia. We have seen that there is no solution on the battlefield - then diplomacy is needed and it should be the leading approach, otherwise the end of the war is not in sight, he summarized. Regarding the Schengen decision, Orbán noted that Hungary helped to resolve an issue that had remained open for more than 10 years.