The Hungarian government has nothing to fear in the procedure under Article 7, said Örs Farkas, Spokesperson for the Government Communication Centre on the Tuesday evening programme of the public service television news channel M1.

In this context, the spokesperson highlighted that Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament said the European Council – which is comprised of the heads of state and government of the Member States of the European Union – will have to deal with the procedures under Article 7 and will have to find a common solution in the case of both Hungary and Poland in the interest of protecting the common interests of the EU.

Mr Farkas recalled that the procedure had been instituted in connection with a report filed by Judith Sargentini.

This is a political campaign, he said, adding that Brussels actors have for years attacked Hungary due to certain measures it has implemented, in particular, due to its position on the issue of migration.

In the past few weeks, Hungary has taken firm action against migration, and this is the response, the spokesperson said, observing that he was not surprised by Mr Weber’s statement.

He highlighted that it had been ascertained that the Hungarian government was right when it claimed that the pressure of migration on Europe had not ceased.

Also at present, there are approximately a hundred thousand migrants on the Balkans route. In the last forty days, almost five thousand migrants have attempted to enter the territory of Hungary illegally, the spokesperson said, adding that the pressure is increasing; however, both the legal and physical border closure measures provide adequate protection for the country.

Mr Farkas was also asked about a finding of the Migration Research Institute made in a report which was released last Friday, concluding that similar to earlier instances in the United States and Europe, proceedings observed at the Southern border the day before indicated a high level of organisation.

Activists claiming to be civil-society actors launched waves of people with fake news, the spokesperson said.

Regarding the case of Gyöngyöspata, he said the goal of the government is to resolve the situation – which first began to emerge in around 2003-2004 – in a fair manner, with a view to the best interests of the victims: they must be provided with the education which they did not receive at the time.

In the context of the coronavirus epidemic, Mr Farkas stressed that they are not aware of any patients in Hungary or among Hungarians staying abroad.

Likewise, the 188 Hungarians currently in China are not infected, the spokesperson said.

(MTI)