Hungary respects Bosnia and supports its fast membership in the EU, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in Sarajevo on Thursday after a meeting with the BiH Council of Ministers Chair, Borjana Kristo, at the beginning of his official visit to the country, adding that the two countries are not only neighbours but family.

“I met the leadership of the new BiH Council of Ministers and I experienced respect. We are a proud people and respect is important to us. If it’s reciprocated, we will be happy. Hungary's attitude towards you is reflected in three facts. We are neighbours in the political and economic sense, so we responsibly observe everything that happens in BiH, as befits neighbours. You can always count on us. We marvel at how you maintain the world's most complicated political system. It is difficult for us Hungarians to maintain a coalition, not to mention such a complicated system. We admire how you maintain the country. The third point is that we share the same destiny. We overcame communism. You’re not a stranger to us, you’re part of the family,” Orban said at the beginning of his address.

He added he informed the Chair about the processes within the EU and said that everything is in turmoil and that there are major transformations in the economic, technology and security policy.

“It is certainly [caused by] the war in Ukraine and the EU's participation in it. We Hungarians see it differently and think that Europe needs a change and an upheaval. That Europe will not be able to do it if it refers to the forces it has now. We need a new dynamic. It may sound strange, but the EU needs the Balkans and BiH more than the other way around. I told the Chair about our policy towards BiH, which in some places coincides with and in some diverges from the EU. Whatever they say in Brussels, we are in favour of BiH’s fast membership in the EU. You don't need to wait for the membership but [it must be] assigned immediately. You need access to funds and invest in security in the Balkans,” he added.

Orban noted that his country does not support the policies of sanctions adding that “in the long term we see that it’s good to return as much jurisdiction as possible to the peoples who live here, and not to the presence of foreigners.”

“If it’s possible for local people to get as much competence as possible, that’s our policy towards the Balkans. Hungary respects you and the political intentions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and wants good economic relations. We would gladly accept a role in guaranteeing Balkan security because we are present in EUFOR,” the Prime Minister concluded.

Bosnia’s Kristo said they expressed gratitude to Hungary for supporting Bih on its EU path.

“We also emphasized our economic cooperation, a large number of contracts and agreements in the procedure and I hope that we will do everything to end these procedures as quickly as possible. We want to have good cooperation on our EU path, to strengthen relations, and I hope that this visit will contribute to that,” she said.

“We also emphasized the views that we, as BiH, are a desirable factor together with the entire region for our European Union. We want to have good cooperation, strengthen relations, and I believe that today's visit and stay of Prime Minister Orban will be a significant step forward in the relations between our countries”, Kristo added.