“Increasing migration pressure is to be expected in the upcoming months because of the onset of winter and the European assessment of Turkey’s offensive in Syria”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Monday in Brussels in the recess of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

In a statement to Hungarian journalists, Mr. Szijjártó emphasised: “The causes of migration are becoming increasingly serious; all instability that is appearing in countries and regions that lie outside Europe, but are close to it, is having a negative effect on European security. In view of the increasing tendency of migration, we must continue to count on dangers, and accordingly in Hungary’s opinion it is becoming increasingly urgent for the focus of international migration policy to change, and shift to facilitating returns home and the on-site solution of problems, instead of encouraging further waves of migration”.

“Hungary is continuing to concentrate on the protection of the borders, and on the fact that assistance must be taken to where the trouble is”, the Minister highlighted. Mr. Szijjártó said that for this reason Hungary is sending a further 70 military personnel to Afghanistan, which will increase the number of Hungarians participating in the mission to 170. In addition, it has extended the period during which it will be providing 500 thousand dollars-a-year to fund national, security and defence forces in Afghanistan until 2024. According to the Minister, with relation to the nuclear agreement with Iran, Hungary fully supports the EU’s policy with the aim of enabling the agreement to remain at least partly in force.

“Concerning Libya, Hungary is striving to ensure that the 35 million euros in funding previously pledged by the countries of the Visegrád Group (V4) to assist border protection reaches its destination. In the case of Sudan, the majority of the 90 thousand dollars in funding provided to date stems from the 25 annual scholarship places being provided. Hungary also supports the fact that the European Commission should draw up an economic recovery package for Sudan, because without it the dramatic worsening of living conditions could lead to a significant outflow of the population”, he highlighted. “It is important that in Africa and the Middle East the European Union should develop and practice a policy that assists the population retention capacity of these regions”, Mr. Szijjártó declared. In reply to a question from reporters, the Minister said that the Islamic State terrorist organisation has changed tactics and shifted to activating “sleeper cells and lone wolves”. “We must under all circumstances prevent the some five thousand EU citizens who have fought for the terrorist organisation from representing a threat to Europe”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade underlined.

(MTI)