Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó invited ambassadors from the Scandinavian countries to a meeting after their foreign ministers signed a letter slamming Hungary’s Wuhan coronavirus response.
Szijjártó accused Denmark, Finland, Iceland Norway and Sweden of “spreading false news” about Hungary’s coronavirus lockdown measures and stated on social media platform Facebook that he would be calling all the ambassadors to the foreign ministry Tuesday.
“We are moving on, but let us make one thing clear now: Hungarians are a nation more than a thousand years old, and it does not ask for this pathetically hypocritical patronising,” he said.
“Don’t think of the Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, Norwegian or Swedish Foreign Ministers know better than Hungarians what is good for Hungarians. Leave it to us, the Hungarian people can decide what they want and what they don’t want. And they should take care of their own business,” he added.
The letter signed by the Nordic countries expressed agreement with statements made by Secretary-General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejcinovic Buric, who said, “An indefinite and uncontrolled state of emergency cannot guarantee that the basic principles of democracy will be observed.”
A debate on the state of Hungary’s rule of law and democracy is scheduled to take place on Wednesday in the European Parliament.
The coronavirus measures implemented by Hungary have been slammed by many who have been prior critics of the country, including members of the European People’s Party (EPP), the European Parliament group Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz is a member.
In early April, thirteen EPP members signed a letter demanding that Fidesz be kicked out of the centre-right parliamentary group, the largest in the EU parliament.
“We have followed the degradation of the Hungarian rule of law for some time. Fidesz is currently suspended from the EPP due to its failure to respect the principle of rule of law. However, the recent developments have confirmed our conviction that Fidesz, with its current policies, cannot enjoy full membership in the EPP,” the letter argued.
Others have gone even further, including former United States UN Ambassador Susan Rice who demanded that Hungary be removed from the European Union entirely.
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