ZAGREB, 14 Nov (Hina) – After meeting his Hungarian counterpart in Budapest on Friday, Croatian President Zoran Milanović  expressed hope that the previously cancelled U.S.-Russia summit would still take place, stressing that diplomacy without dialogue is “a road to nowhere”.

Milanović  was in Budapest on Friday, where he was hosted by Tamás Sulyok.

The Croatian president noted that the relations between the two countries have traditionally been very good, with “minimal fluctuations” and “the occasional sentence that might spark tension”.

One such recent fluctuation involved criticism from the Hungarian political leadership directed at Croatia for “war profiteering” over alleged increases in energy transit prices via the Adriatic Oil Pipeline (JANAF), which had been criticised for having insufficient capacity to meet Hungarian needs.

Both the Croatian government and the pipeline operator rejected these accusations, citing multiple investigations that proved otherwise.

At the joint press conference of the two presidents, where journalists were not allowed to ask questions, energy issues were only mentioned briefly.

“I believe that Croatia holds a very important position in energy security and diversification,” said the Hungarian president, an ally of Prime Minister Viktor OrbГЎn, with whom Milanović  will meet later in the evening.

Sulyok and Milanović  are also scheduled to meet on Saturday, when they will visit the Croatian and Hungarian minorities in both countries.

Milanović  said the two days would be used for discussions and “clarifying matters that may not be completely clear”, because “dialogue is indispensible.”

“That should be both the logic and a kind of ‘dictum’ of European diplomacy, of all those who currently bear the greatest responsibility and have the most powerful tools at their disposal to stop the war in Ukraine — without unnecessary ‘whys’ and perhaps with a few  justified ‘hows’,” the Croatian president said.

Milanović  emphasised that “not every solution is the same and not every solution is justified,” but that breaking off dialogue with someone considered an “enemy and rival” and “demonising” them is a “path with no end”.

For this reason, he said he had “sincerely hoped” that the scheduled meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin would take place in the Hungarian capital, because “diplomacy in which you do not speak to your opponent is the negation of diplomacy and a road to nowhere.”

The U.S. and Russian presidents had, after talks on 16 October, announced that their meeting could take place in Budapest within the following two weeks. However, the plan fell apart just a few days later, as Trump, dissatisfied with Putin’s actions, said it would be “a waste of time”. Instead, he imposed severe sanctions on Russian oil companies.

On Friday, Milanović  expressed hope that the meeting would still happen and emphasised that he would “be glad if it were held in Budapest”, for Hungary’s sake, but above all for the sake of peace.

Visit to minorities

Both leaders praised the status enjoyed by the two minorities in Hungary and Croatia. The Croatian president said that their status “could hardly be better”.

Milanović  also said that Croatia “hopes for Hungary to do well and to be economically stable and successful”, because this is also in Croatia’s economic interest, where the service sector is playing an increasingly important role, as in other world economies.

“That’s why it matters whether 800,000, 600,000, or a million tourists come to Croatia and how willing they are to spend,” he said.

Sulyok also spoke about the development of cross-border infrastructure, mentioning the completion of the A5 highway, which connects Budapest via Osijek to Zagreb. He praised Croatia’s role in NATO and in maintaining stability in Central and Eastern Europe, concluding that Croatia is “a very important ally of Hungary”.

The Hungarian president was appointed by parliament in February last year, following the sudden departure of Katalin Novak, a close ally of Orbán, from that position due to her granting a pardon to a man who had concealed a paedophile scandal in a children’s home.