In an interview for Austrian daily Kurier published on Monday, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said he found it surprising that Austria was debating the free movement of labour and its possible restriction in the case of Eastern Europeans at all.

In Hungary this is interpreted as indicating that Austria is saying yes to refugees but no to citizens of the European Union, the Minister stressed. Mr. Szijjártó was referring to previous proposals by Director of the Vienna Chamber of Labour Werner Muhm, according to which he would like to restrict the free movement of persons and make it subject to a time limit, in addition to which he urged for the EU to “hit the brakes” in the interests of protecting the job market. According to the Hungarian Foreign Minister, this would mean that Hungarians cannot work in Austria whereas a few months ago Chancellor Werner Faymann had nevertheless allowed every refugee to enter Austria.

Hungary would primarily like to prevent illegal immigration and protect its borders, Mr. Szijjártó said, adding that in his opinion migration pressure would be even greater this year in view of the fact that the reasons for migration were becoming more severe.

The Hungarian Government respects the decisions of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and those of other member states, but also expects others to respect its decisions, the Minister declared. According to Mr. Szijjártó, mass immigration is damaging Europe and weakening the continent. “It is no exaggeration to state that the future of Europe depends on whether or not we succeed in stopping migration”, the Minister said.

Mr. Szijjártó said that it was the application of double standards and pure hypocrisy for the EU to urge for the protection of external borders but do nothing while criticising Hungary’s border security measures. The Austrian Chancellor had previously stated that Hungary’s actions reminded him of “the continent’s darkest era”, Mr. Szijjártó pointed out, adding that “a European chancellor cannot behave in this manner”.

According to the Hungarian Foreign Minister a quota system for the distribution of refugees primarily contradicted European law, because it reduces national sovereignty, in addition to which it also contradicts “common sense”, because it could motivate even more refugees to head for Europe. Thirdly, according to Mr. Szijjártó the quota system is also impracticable because there is no guarantee that refugees will remain in a given country once they have been sent there.

Mr. Szijjártó also rejected the idea raised by Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi according to which EU development funding should be reduced in the case of countries that are against the quota system. According to the Minister, migration and EU funding are unrelated.

Mr. Szijjártó sees the solution in the protection of the European Union’s external borders and in providing assistance to countries neighbouring Syria. Furthermore, the Minister would make EU funding provided for the development of poor countries dependent on them spending the money on improving living conditions to ensure people are not forced to leave their countries of origin.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)