A “warlike mood” pervades the European Union, while those speaking out for peace are coming under “heavy attack”, says the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Speaking to the press during a break in a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on April 24, Péter Szijjártó said that the majority of EU countries are choosing to supply Ukraine with more weapons.
“If we wanted to summarise the position expressed by the majority of European countries here, then we could say that we should spend more on sending even more weapons to Ukraine even faster,” reports Mandiner, a Hungarian website.
“The EU is in a warlike mood, with the vast majority of member states wanting to supply Ukraine with more weapons for more money, and more quickly, while pro-peace actors are under heavy attack”, Szijjártó said, according to a tweet posted by a Hungarian government spokesman.
This attitude stemmed from a culture of “self blame” in which many believed that the EU still has not done enough to support Ukraine.
As a result, pro-peace advocates “face serious political and verbal attacks,” the minister said.
Since the outbreak of the war, various MEPs have been labelled—and even ranked in a study—as being “pro-Putin” for not supporting EU resolutions on Russia and instead arguing for de-escalation.
Through the European Peace Facility initiative—the first time in the EU bloc’s history it has approved the supply of lethal weapons to a third country—the EU has committed nearly €6 billion in military support to Ukraine.
In 2022, Europe’s military spending reached $480 billion—it’s highest level since the end of the Cold war—according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
