Minister Martonyi: Europe and US will benefit from free trade agreement

Europe and the United States will face lengthy and tough negotiations about a free trade agreement but will benefit from the zone if they manage to strike a compromise without violating each other's interests, Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi told public television on Friday morning.

Speaking of the recent Rome dinner of EU/NATO foreign ministers with US Secretary of State John Kerry attending, he said that transatlantic cooperation would need a stronger economic foundation to retain its geopolitical and geostrategic role. Europe has so far advocated the agreement much more intensively, but now the United States also seems to show a political will to negotiate on it, he said.

János Martonyi told his Slovak counterpart Miroslav Lajčák at the transatlantic dinner that Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's recent speech failed “to conform to European norms”. Foreign Minister Lajčák suggested that one should not always focus on rhetoric but on actions. Robert Fico said that he wished that efforts to blackmail Slovakia with minority rights would stop. He added that no matter how he respected minorities, Slovakia was set up as an independent state in 1993 not for the minorities, but for the Slovaks themselves first and foremost. Nevertheless, Slovak-Hungarian relations are developing well, and President Ivan Gasparovic's visit to Budapest last week was a success, Martonyi said, adding that he would visit Bratislava on March 13.

Asked about his visit to Bucharest next Monday, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said that there were some disputes between the two countries, and his talks would be aimed at “maintaining the precious elements of strategic partnership”.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)