Europe suffers more from the restrictions imposed in response to the war in Ukraine than Russia, so the eighth package of sanctions must be forgotten, as it would only deepen the difficulties, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly in New York.
According to the ministry’s statement, the head of the ministry highlighted after the traditional informal meeting of the European Union’s foreign affairs council: that it has now become clear that the punitive measures are “much more painful” for Europe than for Russia, as inflation has run wild as a result of the sanctions, and utility costs have skyrocketed on the continent.
Péter Szijjártó believed that in the rest of the world the image has already formed that the effects of sanctions are more serious than the war itself since all the challenges the world is facing now are actually caused by the sanctions and not directly by the war.
“We don’t like it in Europe, this thinking has already developed in the vast majority of the world outside of Europe”
– he said.
“The European Union should finally stop mentioning the eighth package of sanctions, stop putting into perspective all measures that will deepen and aggravate the energy supply crisis”
– declared the head of the ministry, who added that it is clearly visible that the possibility of new energy sanctions increases prices in itself. In addition, winter is coming, and supply challenges will become more and more serious, so it would be important to stop mentioning measures that would further deepen the crisis, he opined.
He explained: that his EU colleagues have been talking about how to fight against this image, but this is a “waste of time”, instead this week’s UN General Assembly should be used to create peace.
The minister also touched on the situation of the Zaporizhia nuclear facility, which is considered the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine and Europe, and called it important to support the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and to secure the reactors as soon as possible, which would require a complete cessation of hostilities in the region as soon as possible.
MTI
