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Hungarian foreign minister warns that France’s Macron is pushing the world toward global nuclear war

By isabelle // 2024-05-07

Could French President Emmanuel Macron be pushing the world toward a global nuclear war? This is the assertion of the foreign minister of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto, who believes that Macron's recent comments about sending French troops to Ukraine could spark a third world war. Macron's controversial comments came in an interview with The Economist that was published last week. During the interview, he reaffirmed statements he has made in the past about potentially deploying troops to back up Kiev. When asked if he stood behind those words, he said: "I'm not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out." He added that the original remarks were a “strategic wake-up call for my counterparts” and said that “if the Russians were to break through the front lines” and Ukraine asked for help, France might consider deploying troops there. When asked for his opinion about Macron’s recently renewed threat to deploy French troops to back up Ukraine, Szijjarto told a French broadcaster that the president's comments are only serving to escalate the situation. He said: “If a NATO member commits ground troops, it will be a direct NATO-Russia confrontation and it will then be World War Three.” He also took issue with Macron’s claim that nuclear weapons from France could form part of a “credible European defense," warning that such a scenario had the potential to escalate into a global nuclear war. “In peacetime it would be different, but in wartime such statements can be misinterpreted and have serious consequences,” he said, cautioning that if that happens, “it will be over for everyone.” Szijjarto said: "Instead of supplying Ukraine with new weapons, sending troops there or using nuclear weapons, it is necessary to end this war, cease fire and start peace talks." He also told Hungarian broadcaster M1 that he is opposed to a proposed NATO five-year plan for a $100 billion war chest to support Ukraine. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has floated the idea, which Szijjarto described as “madness.” "In the coming weeks during negotiations we will fight for Hungary’s right to stay away from this madness, from collecting these 100 billion and siphoning them out of Europe.” Hungary has been against the involvement of the EU and NATO in the Ukrainian conflict and has resisted sending Ukraine support in the form of weapons or helping to train troops, so it is not surprising that Szijjarto is coming down so hard on Macron for expressing an interest in offering military support to Kiev.

Macron says there will be no security in Europe if Russia wins in Ukraine

Macron gave the interview not long after a keynote speech in which he said that Europe is “mortal” and could “die” as a result of the threat of Russian aggression following its invasion of Ukraine. He said the country was a “power of regional destabilization” and “a threat to Europeans’ security.” He said that as far he is concerned, Russia cannot win in Ukraine. "If Russia wins in Ukraine, there will be no security in Europe. Who can pretend that Russia will stop there? What security will there be for the other neighboring countries, Moldova, Romania, Poland, Lithuania and the others?" Sources for this article include: RT.com France24.com

Russia Ukraine national security violence Hungary self-defense France nuclear war chaos dangerous WWIII fallout Macron