“The compulsory resettlement quota would change Europe’s social, cultural ethnic and religious make-up; a decision on such a serious issue cannot be made without asking the people”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI on Wednesday.

The Foreign Minister was reacting to an interview with European Parliament (EP) President Martin Schultz published by German newspaper Ostthüringer Zeitung in which he blamed Hungary for the failure of the EU-Turkey summit. The EP President said: the EU has been fighting for twenty years for the better protection of its borders, but practically nothing is happening in this respect. It is similarly difficult to put the agreement on the fair distribution of refugees into practice because some countries are refusing to accept them. Hungary would only have to take on 1294 asylum-seekers, but Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “is calling a referendum on the issue and says this is a German problem”, Mr. Schultz said, adding that while such debates are ongoing in Europe and only unanimous decisions are acceptable in the European Council “I find it difficult to be more optimistic”.

With regard to the statements, Mr. Szijjártó explained: “We haven’t really experienced Mr. Schultz’s determination to protect the EU’s external borders during the past year and in fact the President of the European Parliament strongly criticised Hungary for protecting our borders”, which are also the external borders of the Schengen Area.

Hungary continues to view the compulsory resettlement quota as unacceptable and rejects the idea, he pointed out, stressing that the resettlement quota is pointless and impossible to implement, increases the danger of terrorism and reduces public safety, and accordingly Hungary has challenged the decision on the quota in the European Court of Justice and we are calling for a referendum on future decisions relating to the quota.

“The people of Hungary have the right to decide who they want to live with. The quota would change Europe’s social, cultural ethnic and religious make-up; a decision on such a serious issue cannot be made without asking the people”, Mr. Szijjártó declared.

The Foreign Minister also pointed out that there are currently 30-35 million people in the vicinity of Europe who could potentially become illegal economic immigrants and accordingly it was absolutely impossible to foresee how many people would eventually need to be admitted. Such initiatives do not help to find a solution to the crisis. These people must be helped within the crisis regions, not shipped over to Europe”, the Minister added in his statement.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)