Minister of Feign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó regards Austria’s procedure at the Austrian-Hungarian border as unnecessary.

In reply to a question at a press conference held on Thursday on a different topic, Mr. Szijjártó explained: “Every EU Member State must respect its obligations”. “This is what Hungary is doing; it is protecting the external border of the European Union and the Schengen Area, for which it has received much criticism; Austria has also criticised Hungary for building a border security fence”, he pointed out.

“There is a need for border protection along the Hungarian-Serbian and Serbian-Croatian borders, not along the Hungarian-Austrian border; what Austria is doing is unnecessary”, Mr. Szijjártó declared, adding: “If Austria truly wants to protect the Schengen Area it should help protect the external border”.

With regard to Hungarian measures, the Foreign Minister said this is the country’s right and it is strange that while “tens of thousands of Hungarians are suffering” because Austria has introduced border controls between two Schengen Member States “it is they who are putting us in the wrong”.

According to Mr. Szijjártó the right course of action would be if everyone acted according to EU regulations and protected the external EU borders as Hungary is doing “at no small expense”. “Hungary would be extremely grateful if it were to receive some assistance in this endeavour”, he added.

The Austrian authorities have been conducting strict and intensive border controls since Monday because they have apprehended an increasing number of illegal immigrants, around the same number as during the same period last year. The spot checks are causing several hours of delays to freight traffic at both Hegyeshalom and Sopron, as well as major tailbacks for passenger vehicles.

On Tuesday evening, Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said the Hungarian authorities were conducting unjustified border checks along the common border. In a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Wednesday, the National Police Headquarters said the road safety inspections at the old Hegyeshalom border crossing station were part of a period of heightened summer monitoring that would last from 1 July until the end of September. According to the statement: “The M1 motorway is Hungary’s busiest highway in view of its important transit function and as a result is especially affected by accidents; this is why checks aimed at increasing road safety occur on a regular basis”.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)