“Hungary and Serbia are in the same shoes in view of the fact the same two European Union member states, Greece and Croatia, are causing significant difficulties to both countries with relation to the migrant crisis”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said after a meeting with the Serbian Prime Minister.
“Greece is causing a problem by being incapable of defending its borders, while Croatia is creating difficulties because it is totally ignoring European law by transporting thousand-strong groups of migrants to Hungary, while issuing ultimata to Serbia in an attempt to ensure that the Serbs also transport their immigrants to Hungary”, the Minster said.
“The Serbian Government has so far stood up against these ultimata in an appropriate fashion, and the Prime Minister has also assured me that Serbia will continue to stand up to such ultimata and that they too regard the behaviour of Croatia as unacceptable”, he added.
“Hungary is subject to unfair attacks on the part of the Croatian Prime Minister. It is time for the Croatian Prime Minister to begin fighting the Croatian election campaign in Croatia and to leave us out of it; we are not prepared to be part of and party to the Croatian election campaign”, the Hungarian Foreign Minster said.
Mr. Szijjártó stressed that Hungary is receiving criticism from Croatia because of the way it is handling the issue of immigration “when in fact the Croatian immigrant care system collapsed within a day and the Croatians have demonstratively declared that they will not abide by European Union Regulations or assume solidarity from now on, but will instead transport immigrants directly to the Hungarian order”.
The fact that Croatia has closed the most important crossing station along the Serbian-Croatian border is causing economic difficulties for Serbia, and “the Croatians are only prepared to reopen the border crossing point if Serbia agrees to transport its immigrants to Hungary”, he pointed out. “This is extremely cynical and unacceptable behaviour on the part of the Croatians”, Mr. Szijjártó underlined.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)
