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At a press conference held after the meeting, in the context of the situation in Kosovo, the Hungarian Prime Minister pointed out that Hungary was monitoring events and could see the injuries that the Serbians were compelled to sustain. He said it is unacceptable on the part of the international community that they accept an election held with a turnout of less than four per cent as a legitimate election. The Hungarian people can see and understand the problem, he underlined. At the same time, he asked Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to consider releasing the three Kosovar police officers who were apprehended in Serbia last Wednesday. In his opinion, this would help Serbia in international politics. In response to this request, the Serbian President of the Republic said the issue of the apprehended police officers fell within the competence of Serbian agencies of the administration of justice.
Regarding Hungarian-Serbian relations, Mr Orbán highlighted that as soon as Hungary and Serbia realised they could not be captives of history, relations between the two countries began to develop immediately.
“Today everywhere in the whole world people talk about who doesn’t cooperate with whom and why. Decoupling, derisking: these are the terms of international politics today. We are offering the world a good example in that rather than explaining whom we don’t want to cooperate with, we should attempt to cooperate with as many countries as possible,” he underlined.
“My experience of many long years is that there are common elements in the two countries’ DNA. As far as I can see, the Serbians have an element of freedom, sovereignty and independence in their DNA. And this is also true of the Hungarians,” Mr Orbán stressed, adding that when Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spoke about the Hungarians giving the Serbians the respect they deserve, the reason for that is that shared DNA.
Mr Orbán highlighted that this was the thirty-second time he met with Aleksandar Vucic. “In politics friendship and an alliance can only be achieved with hard work,” he pointed out. When [Hungary and Serbia] decided that they did not want to remain mere captives of history, but wanted to shape it, then cooperation – which works to this day – began, he added.
The Prime Minister pointed out that as part of the meeting of the Hungarian-Serbian Council for Strategic Cooperation, they had connected important things together. “Serbia is not a member of NATO, Hungary is; Serbia is not a member of the European Union, Hungary is. Serbia is an Orthodox Christian country; Hungary is a Roman Christian country. Serbia is situated in the Balkans; Hungary in Central Europe. And these differences, rather than making cooperation more difficult, offer extra value,” he stressed, adding that if they connect these two different countries together as part of strategic cooperation, then enormous sources of energy will be released, and both Serbians and Hungarians can reap the benefits of this.
At the Palics meeting, the Hungarian and Serbian parties signed twelve cooperation agreements, including the document relating to the establishment of the Hungarian-Serbian Council for Strategic Cooperation. The competent ministers and institution heads additionally signed agreements relating to foreign affairs cooperation, border protection, border control, the construction of an oil pipeline between Hungary and Serbia, European integration, the exchange and protection of confidential data, infrastructure, agriculture, defence and customs cooperation.
An agreement was also reached between the Serbian Gas Works and MVM about the establishment of the company SERBHUNGAS Újvidék Kft.
