Szijjártó admits Hungary's veto if EU imposes anti-Georgian sanctions

Hungary will veto if the European Union (EU) imposes sanctions against the head of the Interior Ministry and other Georgian officials. This was stated by Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Peter Szijjarto at a press conference after talks in Budapest with his Georgian counterpart Maka Bochorishvili on December 10.

He called absurd the proposal, based on which Georgia's interior minister and two police chiefs would fall under sanctions.

"Hungary is strongly opposed to putting Georgian government officials on the sanctions list, and if such a proposal is made, we will of course veto it, everyone can be sure of that," Hirado portal quoted him as saying.

In addition, Sijjarto called on Georgian citizens to defend the sovereignty of their country.

The website of the EU foreign policy service reported earlier in the day that the foreign ministers of the 27 countries of the community at their last meeting of the year on December 16 will consider new measures against Georgia in connection with the situation in the country. The publication noted that the actions of the ruling Georgian Dream party have virtually brought Georgia's EU accession process to a halt. It added that repressive measures used by the Georgian authorities affect bilateral relations.

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Against the background of the ongoing protests in Georgia due to the suspension of negotiations on European integration and the opposition's disagreement with the results of the parliamentary elections, the U.S. State Department suspended partnership with the Georgian side and announced its readiness to impose new sanctions. The French Foreign Ministry accused the Georgian authorities of "repression", Latvia banned entry of 13 citizens of the country, and Ukraine imposed sanctions against 19 Georgian politicians. In addition, it was reported that the Netherlands would ask the EU to suspend the visa-free regime with Georgia because of mass detentions of anti-government protesters.

On November 26, Georgian Dream MP Shota Khabareli told Izvestia that the ruling party is open to dialog with partners from the opposition, but they rule out cooperation with radicals. On 28 November, the Georgian parliament approved Irakli Kobakhidze as the country's prime minister.