Garraud (National Rally): Orbán’s Visits in Favor of Peace
Member of European Parliament: “The weapons sent should be defensive only”
A lone but reasonable and pragmatic voice. Unlike political leaders in Brussels and representatives of individual EU states, including Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who has distanced himself from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s peace initiatives, French MEP for the National Rally, Jean Paul Garraud (pictured) said Orban’s initiative to talk to the presidents of Ukraine, Russia, and China “fits perfectly within the framework of the search for peace.”
Speaking to reporters during a press conference at the European Chamber in Brussels, on the sidelines of the founding meeting of the Patriots for Europe group, Garraud said that “the initiatives of Hungary, the rotating president of the EU, are part of the peace movement, and everyone who can contribute to peace is doing a good thing.” According to the French MEP, “the initiative taken personally by Orban is remarkable” because everyone talks about “war and sending weapons, and the more weapons we have, the more deaths we have.”
“We are for peace and for convening a great conference, in which France can take the initiative. It is more important to move toward peace than war,” Garraud continued. “We only agree to send defensive weapons, otherwise we will fall into a co-equal war. France is a nuclear power, and we have no right to risk the future of the planet,” concluded the representative of Rassemblement Nationale, which came third in the recent French legislative elections.
The formation of a new trans-European political alliance, which called itself “Patriots for Europe,” was announced in Vienna on June 30 by former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, leader of the Dissatisfied Citizens Action party, Hungary’s Prime Minister Orbán, who heads the Fidesz party, and Herbert Kickl, head of Austria’s Freedom Party. Former French National Rally president Jordan Bardella has been elected president of the group in the EU parliament. The Patriots for Europe group was immediately joined by 84 MEPs.