The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, met last Thursday in Madrid with his Hungarian counterpart, Péter Szijjártó, with whom he discussed issues of bilateral interest and the European agenda.
As reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release, Albares stressed during the meeting Spain’s interest in intensifying bilateral economic relations, especially in the field of infrastructure -particularly railways-, engineering and renewable energies. For his part, Szijjártó praised the state of bilateral economic relations and pointed out that two-way trade has increased by 20% so far in 2021 and is expected to reach 5 billion euros by the end of the year, according to the Hungarian government website.
The two ministers also discussed the upcoming conference on the Future of Europe, regarding which Albares stressed the importance of addressing issues such as the development of European citizenship, the participation of cities in the EU or the inequalities faced by some territories, due to their insularity or depopulation. They also discussed migration issues, relations between the EU and the United Kingdom, EU enlargement, Latin America, the situation in Afghanistan and “the importance of the rule of law in Europe”.
Between 2023 and 2024, Spain, Hungary and Belgium will assume the six-monthly rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. In this regard, Albares explained that Spain is beginning to define the priorities of its priorities and expressed his desire for the social agenda to be “very present”, along with issues such as the southern neighborhood and relations with Latin America. “It is very important to maintain close coordination at all levels, both for the elaboration of the trio’s program and during the presidency, to ensure its success,” he added.
The Hungarian government website did not report on this meeting with Albares but did report on a meeting of the Hungarian minister with Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox, to whom he declared that “the example of Spain shows that illegal immigration must be stopped not only on land, but also at sea.”
