On Friday, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency from his Skopje visit that Hungary is supporting Macedonia’s European Union and NATO integration because the stability of Macedonia is extremely important not only from the perspective of security in the Western Balkans, but also that of the whole of Central Europe.
In case of a new wave of migration Macedonia is the southernmost country that we can count on to stop the immigrants, Mr. Szijjártó said.
He added that we cannot know how long the agreement between the European Union and Turkey will hold out, but if something unexpected happens and a new wave if migrations sets off for Europe via the Western Balkans then Macedonia is the first country we can count on.
The country will become stronger more stable as a result of the integration process and it is more likely to protect Central Europe in case of a potential migration wave, he explained.
According to Mr. Szijjártó, Brussels must certainly start accession negotiations with Skopje and the Government of Hungary urges Greece not to veto the start of accession negotiations. “We believe that it is not right that an EU Member State has been blocking the start of accession negotiations with a candidate country for years now due to bilateral debates. He added that the place of Macedonia is within the European Union.
The Minister highlighted that Hungary continues to provide assistance to Macedonia so that Skopje can further protect the southern borders.
“This means that Hungarian police officers will continue to serve on Macedonia’s southern border, on the Macedonian-Greek border just as before. Macedonia is very grateful for this assistance”, Mr. Szijjártó added.
The role of the non-NATO member Macedonia must be respected in the missions of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; therefore Hungary also supports the start of NATO accession processes.
In the first eight months of the year, bilateral trade has increased by forty per cent compared to the same period last year and it has exceeded EUR 150 million, and the Hungarian export has grown by twenty-five per cent, which is proof of the fact that the relationship between the two countries has improved recently, Mr. Szijjártó added.
(MTI)
