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I extend a warm welcome to Prime Minister Milojko Spajić and the members of the delegation from Montenegro. It is a great honour for us to have you with us on this working visit, which brings to a close what has been a long process of negotiations, lasting one and a half to two years. You have just seen the result of this: we have signed two very important, highly significant documents, which will take the relations between these two countries – our two countries – to a higher level.
In general, Hungarian foreign policy is known for its pragmatism, and its goal is to make friends. This is particularly true when it comes to our region, and Montenegro is our region – or we belong to the region of Montenegro. There is a shared geographical intersection. For some reason, since the fall of communism, Hungary has always – perhaps understandably – looked westwards, because of NATO and European integration. But now that we have taken our place there, now that we are well established in the western structures, we must not forget the other geographical directions, and so for us the key question is what is to the south: what our relationship is with the countries to the south and south-east of us. Serbia is known as a strategic partner of Hungary, but so is Montenegro. With today’s agreement, the relations between our two countries can be considered strategic. In fact, regardless of geography, we are almost neighbours – and so we have just signed a strategic agreement with a country almost neighbouring us. Moreover, this is with a country for which the most important thing is not its size, but its location, its geographical position. We are talking about a country in a key position, without which the Balkans cannot be stabilised, and without which North–South trade and economic cooperation cannot be established. Without Montenegro this is simply impossible. For Hungary, Montenegro is a key state. If you look at the railway lines to be built and the motorway routes to be built, you will see that the most important aspect of cooperation between the two countries in the future will be infrastructure development. If we want to be able to reach the sea from Hungary not only in the direction of Trieste, but also in the southern and south-eastern direction, then our route will lead through Serbia to Montenegro. Therefore Montenegro is a key country for us. I am grateful that it is not only I who sees it in this way, but also my fellow prime minister. Prime Minister Spajić and I have been talking about these issues for a long time. I thank our ministries for negotiating these issues and bringing them to the point at which we could sign off on them today.
In addition to bilateral issues, we of course also talked about the European Union, because Montenegro is a candidate country and we are a member. And of course it is a good thing that our economic relations are expanding dynamically, and that last year our volume of trade exceeded 100 million euros. It is good that there are major Hungarian regional multinationals that have already established themselves in Montenegro. These are all very important things, but the shared perspective that binds us together is the European Union, of which we are members and Montenegro is in the position of negotiating its accession – after fifteen years! I want to repeat, that is no mistake: they have been waiting to become members of the European Union for fifteen years, having fulfilled all the requirements for a country of this size to become a member of the EU – without breaking sweat, I would say. It is a country with a Western culture, well-versed in European policies and regulations, with living Western links, capable of negotiating and closing any negotiating chapter with record speed if there is receptiveness from the other side, from the side of the Union. Today I have to say that currently the only obstacle to Montenegro’s EU membership is the European Union. Otherwise, they should have entered a long time ago. It is only up to Brussels. I was also able to tell the Prime Minister that Montenegro also enjoys a great deal of sympathy among the Member States. So I have yet to meet a colleague, a prime minister in the European Union, who has not spoken about Montenegro in a tone of appreciation, about its preparedness, about its ability. And everyone accepts that here is a country that we need, that wants to come in, that sees the Union’s many bitter problems and troubles, but that wants to join; and, instead of welcoming it and speeding up the process, we are for some incomprehensible reason slowing it down and delaying it. We do not believe that this is a sensible attitude, and so today I promised the Prime Minister that Hungary will continue to support Montenegro’s membership of the European Union. We are happy to support Montenegro in its preparations, we are also happy to support Montenegro in the negotiation process – and if necessary also afterwards, because the first one or two years after membership are never easy. So we will be at your disposal.
Montenegro is a country which is not only in an important location, but which also has a great culture and a great history. This is always good for us, and we are truly happy to have such partners: those who are just as proud of their past, their history, and all that their ancestors have built up, as we Hungarians are proud of ours. We are talking about two European countries which respect the past and which value national interests, national culture, and everything that makes us Montenegrins and Hungarians. So it was with the greatest pleasure that I signed the agreement with the Prime Minister, and I very much hope that every word of it will soon be fulfilled.
Thank you again, Prime Minister, for your visit.
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