“The proposed comprehensive agreement between the European Union and Turkey has lost its relevance because conditions have changed fundamentally in view of the fact that the Western Balkan countries have closed their borders to migrants”, Péter Szijjártó said in Brussels prior to a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

A new situation has been created by the fact that the countries involved “have returned to the culture of conforming to common treaties and commitments, meaning they have decided to protect their own borders and have implemented measures to assure that their green borders cannot be crossed illegally”, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade stressed before the meeting.

In the opinion of the Hungarian Government, the solution must be adapted to this new state of affairs. The comprehensive agreement with Ankara must be replaced by a draft agreement composed of three elements and accordingly the three billion euros in EU funding that was to be provided to Turkey based on the original proposal must also be rethought, Mr. Szijjártó told the press.

The first point of this proposed new agreement is to provide support to Western Balkan countries to help them maintain their efforts to protect their borders. According to the second point, assistance must be provided to Athens to enable Greece to conform to common EU regulations, establish EU asylum-seeker registration centres, so-called hot spots, and conduct the required procedures.

And finally, we must recognise that “our duty is not to provide a European life for immigrants who set out for Europe but to help them get their old lives back as soon as possible”, Mr. Szijjártó said, adding that accordingly we must provide assistance to Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraqi Kurdistan to help them provide food and accommodation to refugees who arrive there.

The Hungarian Government continues to regard all ideas concerning the distribution of asylum-seekers and their compulsory resettlement as unacceptable, the Minister declared.

Mr. Szijjártó also told reporters that prior to the meeting a letter was distributed by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy which states, amongst others, that the situation in Iraq and Libya suggests that migration pressure on Europe will continue to increase.

According to the agreement that took shape during last week’s EU-Turkish summit, Ankara is requesting financial assistance from the European Union to help care for Syrian refugees in Turkey, in addition to which it is asking for the acceleration of EU accession talks and the abolishing of EU visa requirements for Turkish citizens by the end of June at the latest. In return, Turkey is prepared to readmit all illegal immigrants who enter Greece via the country. However, in exchange for every single readmitted Syrian citizen the EU must admit a Syrian refugee directly from Turkey.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)