“There is full agreement between the Hungarian Government and the leaders of one of the most significant German states, Baden-Württemberg, with regard to the protection of the European Union’s external borders and maintaining the Schengen Area”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Wednesday following negotiations in Stuttgart.
Assessing his political talks in the state capital, Mr, Szijjártó said: There is agreement between the Hungarian Government and the leaders of Baden-Württemberg with relation to the fact that the European Union’s external borders must be “strictly protected”, and that maintaining the Schengen Area with no internal border controls and enforcing the Schengen regulations is “in the fundamental interests of all of Europe”.
In a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI, the Foreign Minister pointed out that in addition to extremely close economic relations, education cooperation is also very strong in view of the fact that the government of Baden-Württemberg is one of the founders of the Andrássy Gyula German Language University of Budapest, adding that during his visit to Stuttgart an agreement was also concluded on the fact that Hungary and Baden-Württemberg will also be cooperating more closely in future within the field of dual vocational education.
Mr. Szijjártó also met with Baden-Württemberg‘s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of interior Thomas Strobl, whose Ministry is also responsible for migration and digitalisation.
In addition to the Vice President of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Mr. Szijjártó also held talks with Minister of Justice and European Affairs Guido Wolf and Economics Minister Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, both of whom are also CDU politicians.
Mr. Szijjártó also held a series of economy-related meetings, including with the directors of Bosch, the foreign manufacturing company that employs the most people in Hungary.
The Andrassy University is the only German language higher education institution outside Germany, and was funded in 2001 by Hungary, Germany, Austria and two German states: Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. The autonomic province of South Tyrol has also been one of the University’s financers since 2011. The University offers masters and post-gradual courses within the fields of history, politics, economics and law.
Baden-Württemberg, which has a population of over ten million, is the third largest and most highly populated German state.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)
