In his speech at Wednesday’s session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó called the proposal according to which member states must provide the same healthcare services to illegal immigrants as to their own citizens unacceptable.

In a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said that at the event in New York he had declared that it is not possible to provide the same rights to healthcare services to people who have managed to enter the country illegally as are provided to citizens who have paid their taxes regularly for decades, including in the interests of maintaining the healthcare system.

According to Mr. Szijjártó, UN bureaucrats are attempting to force this proposal on the global organisation’s member states as part of the Global Compact on Migration in a stealthy manner while hidden behind a mask of good intentions. “They are doing so because they previously failed to force the whole package through the UN’s member states in view of the fact that Hungary, the United States, Israel, the Czech Republic and Poland voted against the document, while several member states of the European Union also refused to vote in favour of the Global Compact. For this reason, they are now attempting to force the Compact through member states in parts”, he added.

The Minister pointed out that the essence of the Global Compact on Migration is the legalisation of illegal immigration while totally disregarding the related security risks. He added that according to Hungary’s position, illegal migration is dangerous and must not be legalised or organised, but should instead be stopped in view of the inherent security risks.

The Economic and Social Council is a United Nations organisation that is subordinate to the UN General Council, and which performs studies and initiates measures with relation to international issues that arise within, amongst others, the field of healthcare.

(MTI)