Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó has rejected criticism from the parliamentary group leader of Austria’s Social Democratic Party (SPÖ).

In a statement to Austrian news agency APA, Andreas Schieder called Mr. Szijjártó’s statements on Thursday regarding the Austrian Chancellor “substandard”, and declared that the European Union is a community of values that “should not be confused with a cash machine”.

On Friday in reply to a question from the press, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said that it is time for everyone in Vienna “including our social democrat friends” to realise that the age of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is over. “It is a legitimate thing for Budapest to have a different opinion than Vienna. They must accept the fact that the opinion of the Hungarian people can differ from the opinion of the Austrian people”, he stressed.

“When the Austrian Chancellor attacks Hungary unfairly, denies the fact that Hungary is protecting Austria, that Austrian companies are realising major profits in Hungary and that Hungary is providing billions of forints in funding to Austrian enterprises operating here, people must be prepared for the fact that we will not let it go without a response”, he declared.

With relation to criticism of his style, Mr. Szijjártó said it was “just as acceptable as when the Chancellor of a neighbouring country launches an all-out attack on Hungary using all sorts of false accusations”. “One gives as good as one gets, as the saying goes. Hungarian diplomacy and Hungarian foreign policy adheres to this principle”, he added.

“If someone is disrespectful of Hungary and the Hungarian people, this is the style I will react in; the time for niceties has passed”, he said, adding that “nobody asked the Austrian Chancellor to accuse and judge Hungary. If he decides to do so, he must count on a response”.

In a statement to German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said, amongst others, that funding for Hungary and Poland must be reduced if they contravene EU regulations.

In reaction to the Chancellor’s statement, Mr. Szijjártó said on Thursday: “There is a war underway in Europe against countries that are refusing to accept illegal immigrants, and this war has two instruments: legal and financial threats”. According to the Minister, “there exists a ‘Soros plan’ concerning how to use threats to convince countries to accept migrants” and “with his statement, the Austrian Chancellor has joined those left-wing, liberal politicians who support this plan, and has declared that he wants to take away the funding that is due in accordance with the EU treaties”.

(MTI)