Hungarian FM Péter Szijjártó says to be sure “when leaders, FMs of those [EU] countries, who have not been in favor of you [Georgia] yesterday visit here, they speak very positively and they never mention any problems, but when there are closed doors, then they are super brave.”

In an interview with GPB First Channel, FM Szijjártó claims, “this is exactly the same situation when it comes to the Western Balkans. The countries in the Western Balkans are very disappointed now with a good reason.”

“Since everybody agreed (among the 27, I mean) that both Ukraine and Moldova should get the [EU] candidate status, they got it, but since there was not anonymous agreement on whether you [Georgia] should get the candidate status, unfortunately, you did not get it. But even among those, who are advocating for you to get it, but unfortunately, you need to have anonymity and we were not 27 of us. It is very hypocritical, because I am pretty sure that when leaders, FMs of those countries, who have not been in favour of you yesterday, visit here they speak very positively and they never mention any problems, but when there are closed doors, then they are super brave. This is exactly the same situation with when it comes to the Western Balkans. The countries in the Western Balkans are very disappointed now with a good reason,” he told the GPB.

FM Szijjártó also mentioned “double standards within the EU,” saying “unfortunately, this is part of Brussel’s game and these double standards are being applied even within the EU, so I think this is unfair to apply double standards with countries outside the EU.”

“I do not want to discourage you from being committed to EU membership but we in the European Union, we, Hungary, we are faced with the similar kinds of double standards as well. For example, currently, we, Hungarians, do not receive the European recovery fund which is partly our money, by the way, it is not a humanitarian donation, not a gift, not a present, is partly our money. We do not get it because of the similar kind of political reasons like you, you don’t get the candidate status, so, similar kind of expectations are being put forward for us which are again like perceptions, and not real issues, so, unfortunately, this is part of Brussel’s game and these double standards are being applied even within the EU. I think this is unfair to apply double standards with countries outside the EU,” as delivered by the FM.