According to Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács, at the informal summit of EU heads of state and government, “the majority of countries” rejected the new proposal on the upgrading of the role of the European Union’s border and coast guard agency (Frontex) which would withdraw “partial rights attached to border controls”.

On Thursday on the public service television news channel M1, Mr Kovács said the adoption of the Sargentini report “which falls into the category of political revenge”, the Council of Europe’s report on migration and border controls, or Amnesty International’s statement made in the case of Ahmed H all serve the purpose of attempting to force Hungary “to toe the line” on the issue of immigration.

He said it was not the European Commission, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel who came up with the above-mentioned Frontex proposal which “will effectively mean that Member States will be required to relinquish some of their sovereignty”.

He said in continuation that this is why they repeatedly handed over to the Austrian Presidency the Hungarian proposal which defines the scenario in which the assistance of Frontex would be required: in situations when a Member State is unable or unwilling to protect the Schengen borders. He added that in these situations the Schengen membership of the country concerned could even be suspended and the given country could be replaced with the next neighbouring state.

Mr Kovács stressed that major political forces had been mobilised to “seek to remove” the issue of migration from the last phase of the European Parliament’s election campaign, and therefore in his view these forces would try to “push through” Angela Merkel’s proposal before the elections.

He also highlighted that Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission proposed the expulsion of Fidesz from the European People’s Party in the absence of the Hungarian Prime Minister when Viktor Orbán and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had a one-to-one meeting. The time of this meeting was announced in advance.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)