“According to the information available to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, no Hungarians were injured in the shooting in Strasbourg on Tuesday”, Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest following a press conference on another topic.
“No calls were made to the emergency consular phone number, no Hungarian citizens requested assistance from the Hungarian Embassy in Paris, and the Strasbourg crisis centre has also not informed the Embassy of any Hungarian involvement”, Mr. Szijjártó emphasised. According to the Minister, the employees of Hungary’s permanent representation to the Council of Europe and the Hungarian participants of the plenary session of the European Parliament are all safe. No assistance was requested from the Secretariat-General of the Council of Europe, or from Hungarians working at the European Court of Human Rights, which is also based in Strasbourg.
9 people from a group of 40 university students from Hungary were unable to return to their accommodation because of police measures, and spent hours in a stairwell on the orders of police. During the course of the night, our diplomatic representation in Strasbourg was in continuous contact with the university lecturer supervising the group, who in the small hours reported on the fact that all nine students had returned to their accommodation safely. In the case of any Hungarian involvement, the French authorities immediately inform the Hungarian Embassy in Paris, Mr. Szijjártó said. The Minister expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and wished the injured a speedy recovery. “The Government is protecting Hungary’s security using all possible instruments, but EU institutions must also take the necessary action to ensure that security is restored to Europe and to the European people. It would be good to finally experience an advent during which Christmas fairs in Europe do not have to be closed because of various attacks”, Mr. Szijjártó declared.
(MTI)
