“Hungarian-Romanian cooperation must be given new impetus so that it is founded on mutual respect, views national communities as a resource and exploits economic opportunities”, Péter Szijjártó declared in Bucharest following a meeting with his Romanian counterpart Lazar Comanescu. With relation to the immigration crisis, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned that unprotected borders and European inaction would lead to “another Cologne”.
Hungary regards Romania as a strategic partner, Mr. Szijjártó said. The previous Romanian administration had made unfair claims against Hungary, to which the Hungarian party reacted firmly, he pointed out, stressing that this mood had changed completely with the coming into office of the current Romanian government and thanking Mr. Comanescu for the “friendly reception and constructive atmosphere”.
According to Mr. Szijjártó, there are issues in bilateral relations, such as the minorities question, in which “much work remains to be done”, but success stories are also needed to enable the parties to find solutions to their debated issues.
At their joint press conference, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced that Eximbank would be opening a credit line of 370 million US Dollars for the development of cooperation between Hungarian and Romanian enterprises.
The parties also agreed to interconnect the Hungarian and Romanian natural gas pipeline systems by 2019. The project, which is also backed by the European Union, will contribute significantly to increasing Central Europe’s energy security, he pointed out.
The Hungarian M4 and Romanian A3 motorways will also be connected within the next two years, representing the second motorway connection between the two countries, Mr. Szijjártó announced, adding that the two countries also plan to make their joint border easier to cross, because the fact that in Western Europe there are border crossing stations on average every 2-3 kilometres, while there is currently only one opportunity to cross the border every 40 kilometres along the Hungarian-Romanian border represents a competitive disadvantage.
On the subject of the migration crisis, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade told reporters that the joint Hungarian-Romanian standpoint is that the external borders of the European Union must be protected, but that Europe is engaging in hypocritical politics in this respect and Europe is currently unprotected from the South.
“If Greece is not prepared to fulfil its commitments then we must establish a second line of defence with the inclusion of Bulgaria and Macedonia, because if we cannot alleviate the migration pressure on Europe then there will be another Cologne, public safety in Europe will continue to deteriorate and the terrorist threat to Europe will increase further”, Mr. Szijjártó warned. “We must seriously consider the possibility that the southern border of the Schengen Area will shift to Greece’s northern border”, he said.
In reply to a question from reporters concerning whether Hungary is also planning to build a security fence along its border with Romania, Mr. Szijjártó made it clear that the Hungarian Government had not constructed a barrier along its borders with Serbia and Croatia “for fun”, but because it was the only way of stopping the uncontrolled daily flow of 8-10 thousand immigrants into the country. Decent people experienced no disadvantage as a result, because those who wanted to enter the country according to regulations did not attempt to do so via the open green border between official border crossing stations, he noted.
“We will not be constructing more fences than are necessary. We hope that Romania will be capable of protecting its borders and there will be no need for a fence”, Mr. Szijjártó declared.
Lazar Comanescu said that he agreed with his Hungarian counterpart with regard to the fact that minorities represent a bridge between the two countries. The Hungarian-Romanian Joint Economic Committee would also be convening within two weeks to facilitate bilateral relations with concrete recommendations, including the fact that the European Union must act to protect its external borders, he continued. The Romanian Foreign Minister also expressed his thanks with respect to the fact that Hungary continues to support Romania’s accession to the Schengen Area.
Mr. Szijjártó also visited the headquarters of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) in Bucharest, where he met with Union President Hunor Kelemen, who expressed his hope that Mr. Szijjártó’s visit to Bucharest would lead to progress in the normalisation of bilateral relations, including in the interests of Hungarians living in Romania.
“One of the subjects of our discussions was the repeated deprivation of rights with respect to which we have already expressed our dissatisfaction on several occasions and which must be one of the topics of Romanian-Hungarian relations.
We regard it as unacceptable that there are laws which directly affect the Hungarian minority, but which are not applied in Romania”, Mr. Kelemen declared.
During his visit to Bucharest, Mr. Szijjártó will also meet with Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu and Speaker of the House of Representatives Valeriu Zgonea, after which he will make a courtesy visit to Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos.
(MTI)
