While Hungary is protecting its borders and simultaneously the external border of the Schengen Area, Greece is “totally ignoring the common regulations and is allowing huge numbers of unidentified illegal immigrants to travel on into Europe”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade stressed on Saturday in a statement issued to Hungarian news agency MTI.

Péter Szijjártó was reacting to statements by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in the Saturday edition of German daily Bild.

In the published interview, the Greek Prime Minister said he wasn’t worried that Greece could be excluded from the Schengen Area, because “we are protecting Europe’s fundamental values!” In the end it will be those who are now pulling up barbed wire fences, “chase refugees away by force and transform their countries into fortresses” who will become isolated, he added. Mr. Tsipras also said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had “opted for the humanitarian approach and proven her leading role” during the refugee crisis. According to the Greek head of government, if the Chancellor had behaved like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, “Europe would have long split in two and become a failure as a result”.

In reaction to the statements, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said it was tragicomic that the Greek Prime Minister talks about solidarity, because “what kind of solidarity is it when Greece is letting thousands of illegal immigrants loose into Europe every day?” “Nobody can seriously think that we want to build the future of Europe with people who are so aggressive that they attack the police and break down fences”, he highlighted.

The European Union was founded on a culture of conforming to the Treaties, Mr. Szijjártó noted, stressing that “what represents the fundamental values and foundations of the European Union is that everyone conforms to the jointly adopted regulations”.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)