On Monday Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács told public television channel M1 that leaders of the Visegrád countries have affirmed their faith in a joint European position against migration, but they support a concept which is different to that of the governments of Germany or the Netherlands.

The Government Spokesperson said that participants at the summit – which was organised to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Visegrád Group (V4) – declared the need to protect the EU’s external borders, and to enlarge the European Union by accepting Serbia and Macedonia.

According to the V4, Bulgaria has been successful in protecting the borders, therefore they support its accession to the Schengen Area, Mr. Kovács added.

He said that the Government’s position is that if Greece is not able to protect Europe’s borders, another fence must be erected along Greece’s borders with Bulgaria and Macedonia.

Mr. Kovács also talked about Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s address in Parliament, in which he declared that Brussels’ policy for handling the migration crisis has failed. An alternative to this is the protection of external borders and opposition to mandatory resettlement quotas, Mr. Kovács said, adding that the Government therefore calls on opposition parties to support these efforts.

Responding to a question about certain German newspaper reports which on the one hand have accused Mr. Orbán of inducing a humanitarian crisis to which Chancellor Angela Merkel has had to respond, and which on the other hand have said that he has become the Chancellor’s strongest opponent, Mr. Kovács said that all efforts which seek to reduce the issue to a dispute between two people are doomed to fail. He also added that Germany has difficulties accepting that there are different opinions on how a country can be protected.

(Prime Minister's Office)