“Europe is facing major problems such as migration, economic development and EU enlargement, but these can only be solved well while remaining within the realms of common sense, not on an emotional basis”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared in his speech at the meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Central European Initiative (CEI) in Minsk on Tuesday, on which he reported to Hungarian news agency MTI by telephone following the summit.

“In view of the seriousness of the problems, serious debates are ongoing in Europe with regard to the future of the continent, which is natural in view of the fact that many, many sovereign countries must solve major problems. The trouble is that these debates very quickly become emotional, as a result of which the chances of them coming to a close with results that are positive with relation to the continent are lost”, he added.

“Central Europe must represent common sense, and these debates must be kept within the realms of common sense, because that is the only method of guaranteeing the security of the region within the three areas mentioned above”, the Minister said, who represented the Hungarian Government at the summit.

Belarus holds the current rotating presidency of the CEI, which is why the summit was held in Minsk.

At the meeting, the parties adopted the CEI’s action plan for the next three years, in which migration, the economy and EU enlargement are included as priority areas.

“Central Europe must be tough in these debates and must loudly represent its own rational standpoint, because as long as the Western half of the continents wants to organise migration on an emotional basis, the central half of the continent wants to stop it based on common sense, because it must be stopped and not organised in view of the fact that it bears with it major dangers”, Mr. Szijjártó underlined. “In view of processes in Africa and the Middle East, it would unfortunately seem that the supply of new immigrants who could begin setting out for Europe is unlimited. But the region, including Hungary, has already proven that illegal migration can be stopped”, he said.

“We must also remain within the realms of common sense within the field of the economy; it must be clearly recognised that only country in which taxes are low can be competitive. Hungary and the countries of Central Europe are performing excellently in this respect”, the Minister said.

“We must not allow anyone from the Western half of the continent to force us to raise taxes, using the motto of harmonisation. The countries of Central Europe were capable of reducing taxes because their citizens have worked hard and their governments are financially disciplined”, Mr. Szijjártó declared.

“We must also remain within the realms of common sense within the field of EU enlargement”, he continued.

“Because if we cannot continue the enlargement of the EU in the direction of the Western Balkans and are incapable of accelerating this process, then it will represent a major security risk for Central Europe because of the tensions in the Western Balkan region”, the Hungarian Foreign Minister declared.

At the summit, Mr. Szijjártó met with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Nebojša Stefanović, with whom he came to an agreement with regard to the fact that the two countries will be accelerating construction work to enable them to open the Bácsszentgyörgy and Rasztina border crossing points by next spring, and that construction of the border crossing points at Kübekháza and Rábé will also commence next year.

(MTI)