Budapest has vetoed a Council of Europe resolution that recognized Ukraine’s proposed peace formula. “This is unacceptable,” the Hungarian Foreign Minister declared, adding that we should consider “other peace plans.”.
Budapest vetoed a Council of Europe resolution that recognized Ukraine’s proposed peace formula. “This is unacceptable,” the Hungarian Foreign Minister declared, adding that we should consider “other peace plans.”.
On May 17, Peter Szijjarto vetoed the Council of Europe’s resolution. On his Facebook page, the Foreign Minister also posted his position.
What did Szijjarto say?
Szijjártó said that the Council of Europe could be a great platform for peace, but, according to the Hungarian minister, “after the exclusion of the Russians, this opportunity has been lost.”
“Instead of fantasizing about nuclear war, we finally need real peace talks. Real peace talks can only take place when all the warring parties are sitting at the table,” the Hungarian Foreign Minister said.
He added that the Council of Europe wished to adopt a resolution today acknowledging Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace plan as a formula for peace that merits consideration and support.
“This is unacceptable for us. Other parties have also devised peace plans that are comparable to those of the Ukrainian president. I asked to include other peace plans in the Council of Europe resolution. The majority rejected it. That’s why I vetoed it, so that there would be no Council resolution,” Szijjarto emphasized.
Peace Summit in Switzerland
Switzerland hosts this year the Peace Summit, which intends to find a solution for the Russia-Ukraine war, which started with a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Switzerland is convinced that the Russian Federation should participate in the Peace Summit, as “a peace process without Russia is unthinkable.” However, this year’s event did not extend an invitation to Moscow. The Swiss Foreign Ministry’s press service has stated this.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly emphasized that negotiations with Putin are impossible. The President of Ukraine explains that the Russian dictator does not want peace at all but rather wants to occupy our entire country.
“He (Putin, ed.) does not want any peace with Ukraine,” Zelensky emphasized.
Kyiv emphasizes that any negotiations on the aggressor’s terms—the one who kills, rapes, tortures, deports civilians, including children, terrorizes civilians, and destroys civilian infrastructure—are impossible.
Is it possible to have peace talks with Putin?
Radoslaw Sikorski, the Polish Foreign Minister, recently referred to Vladimir Putin as a war criminal who has crossed a critical threshold. In his opinion, colonial wars last for decades, so it will not be the current Russian president who will complete the aggression against Ukraine, but another team.
As previously reported, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron compared Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler. He called on the world not to appease the aggressor country’s president but to confront him and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“This is like being a foreign minister or a leader in Europe in the 1930s, we have got to not appease Putin. We have got to stand up to the evil that his invasion represents”, Politico has quoted David Cameron as saying.
Ukrainian Peace Formula
In his speech to the G20 summit participants in November 2022, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky presented Ukraine’s proposals for achieving peace with Russia and stop the war, which include 10 points.
The European Union Foreign Affairs Council has endorsed Ukraine’s Formula for Peace and will promote it globally. EU High Representative Josep Borrell’s statement was published on the European Council’s website. Josep Borrell said that the European Union would continue global contacts to find lasting peace for Ukraine under the principles of the UN Charter.
The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly approved a draft resolution incorporating key provisions of Ukraine’s “peace formula”. The document is a ten-point plan to end the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On 29 December, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia would not talk to anyone based on the Ukrainian Formula for Peace.
