The European Union lacks unity, as was demonstrated by the coronavirus pandemic and the fact that non-member partners provided Hungary with more help than the bloc nations, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday at a press conference during his visit to Belgrade
BELGRADE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th May, 2020) The European Union lacks unity, as was demonstrated by the coronavirus pandemic and the fact that non-member partners provided Hungary with more help than the bloc nations, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday at a press conference during his visit to Belgrade.
Earlier on Friday, Orban arrived in Belgrade to hold talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic behind closed doors, with the participation of Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali.
At a press conference after the talks, Orban said that Budapest and Belgrade "managed to win the first battle with the coronavirus."
"The COVID-19 pandemic showed a lack of unity in the EU, we all saw that its members were busy with their own problems, there was no coordination. Now, during the second phase, we expect the EU to be in a better position and prove to be more successful in combating this," Orban said.
As an example of non-EU help, the prime minister noted that 120 planes with humanitarian assistance had arrived in Hungary from China to help fight the coronavirus pandemic and prepare for a second wave of the virus outbreak in the fall.
The Serbian president, in his turn, said that both countries made every effort to improve bilateral relations and expressed gratitude for the continued support of Budapest for Serbia's integration into the EU. He also expressed hope that the two states would become leaders in terms of economic growth in Europe in 2021.
Hungary has confirmed more than 3,400 cases of the coronavirus since the outbreak and over 400 related fatalities. In early May, the authorities began to gradually relax the measures introduced to curb the virus.
Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases in Serbia has surpassed 10,300, with the death toll standing at 224. Last week, the Serbian parliament voted to cancel the state of emergency, almost two months after it was declared. The Balkan nation has allowed shopping malls to reopen and plans to resume air traffic on May 18.
