Levente Magyar, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade takes the view that Hungary was not admitted to the EU by European bureaucrats but the Hungarian people earned a place in the EU on account of their performance and history.

Based on the Ministry’s communiqué released on Thursday, the State Secretary responded to a comment made by Javier Solana, former NATO Secretary General and former EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy in answer to a journalist’s question regarding the Hungarian Government’s migration policy after a debate attended by members of the press.

The Ministry reiterated: Javier Solana said that the institutions of the EU provide a satisfactory response to the refugee crisis, however, Member States are falling short. The politician remarked that it is “petty” when the religious affiliation of immigrants is considered as a criterion upon the adoption of the decisions on their acceptance, and criticised Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who he claimed said – despite the fact that Pope Francis encouraged every European parish to take in families – that they will not take in “anyone who is not Christian”.

Javier Solana said that “I do not wish to speak more about Hungary, it simply makes me sick”, and the topic “winds me up”. “I was among those who admitted Hungary (to the European Union)”, the Ministry reported on the event.

In the Ministry’s communiqué, Mr Magyar replied that the Hungarian nation has always formed part of the European community, and there were periods also more recently when “external powers created oppressive dictatorships in Hungary”.

The State Secretary said that it was not European bureaucrats who admitted Hungary to the EU, but Hungary earned its place in the EU on account of the performance and history of the Hungarian people.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)