Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told Hungarian News Agency MTI on Monday that Hungary is not isolating itself, but is complying with common European rules.

In a press release received by MTI from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Minister reacted to a statement by the leader of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) Reinhold Mitterlehner, issued after the party’s meeting on Monday. In his statement, Mr. Mitterlehner said that Austria is not building a fence and isolating itself, in a way that he claimed Hungary and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán are doing.

The Ministry pointed out that the MEP Othmar Karas, one of Mr. Mitterlehner party colleagues, had claimed that the Hungarian fence shows that a national response to a European challenge is not helping any refugees at all and is not solving any problems, but is simply displacing the problem.

Regarding the matter, Mr. Szijjártó was of the opinion that “it seems that some Austrian leaders are not aware of the difference between isolation and complying with common European rules”, and that Hungary is not isolating itself, but complying with those common European rules. Hungary is not “displacing the problem”, but enforcing European law, he said.

The Minister said that Hungary speaks openly about the migration challenge: “for instance, we do not call the fence ‘a gate with two long fixed side sections’”. He added that “hypocrisy does not lead anywhere”.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)