Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said that his country did not agree to participate in the “Carpathian 8” summit last week. The day before, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said that Budapest categorically refused to participate in last weekʼs summit.
On September 21, Sybiha wrote on the social network X that he was surprised by the "unreasonably confrontational statements" of the Hungarian Prime Minister against Ukraine.
He also wrote that he did not know why Magyar refused to participate in the Carpathian Eight summit.
"It seems that, although Viktor Orban is gone, his policies of blockade and isolationism continue to flourish," the Foreign Minister added.
After that, Magyar and Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán responded to these statements in comments.
"To claim that a sovereign state is a participant in an international initiative [the ʼCarpathian Initiativeʼ] without prior consultations or consent from that state itself is absolutely unacceptable. Let me give you a simple example: ʼHello, we have created a football team in a neighboring village. We donʼt even know each other, but you are already on the team and you are the one who have to bring the ballʼ," the Hungarian prime minister wrote.
Orban wrote that since coming to power, the new Hungarian government has made "many gestures of goodwill towards Ukraine".
- On September 18, Ukraine launched the “Carpathian 8” — a new format for cooperation with European neighbors. For the first time, the C8 summit was held in Ukraine, with the participation of Romania, Serbia, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, and the EU. The focus is on security, energy, logistics, cross-border business, and community support.
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