BUDAPEST, June 6. /TASS/: The "sanctions hysteria" in the European Union is undermining its competitiveness with respect to the United States, which has felt the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine to a much lesser extent than Europe.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto said this speaking at the international Budapest Peace Forum on Tuesday.
The Foreign Minister noted that "the European Union may back itself into a corner with sanctions hysteria," which has already seriously undermined its economy and posed a threat to its energy security.
Szijjarto recalled that the EU’s sanctions against Russia had not achieved their goal and did not lead to an end to the conflict in Ukraine, but only caused serious problems in the European and global economy.
"The debate about the 11th package of sanctions is ongoing now, but I think it's clear to everyone that the sanctions have failed," the minister said at a forum organized by the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, a private research and educational institution supported by the Hungarian government.
Szijjarto believes that by supporting attempts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict by military means, as well as the imposition of sanctions against Russia, the Europeans "allowed the United States to get them to make an extremely unreasonable decision."
"In addition to the fact that there is a war going on in Europe and people are dying, the [economic] consequences of this war are most pronounced here, in the European Union," and not overseas, the Foreign Minister noted.
"One year and three months after the start of the war, the danger of its escalation has increased, and the economic competitiveness of the European Union has decreased compared to the United States," the minister emphasized. His speech was broadcast on his Facebook page (banned in Russia, owned by Meta Corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia).
Szijjarto reiterated that the Hungarian government proposes to seek a settlement of the Ukrainian conflict in a different way, calling on the warring parties to cease fire immediately and start peace negotiations.
