“The European Union must make it clear that its territory can only be entered legally, because until it does so pressure on the Hungarian and Greek borders will not cease”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Friday in Budapest.

At a joint press conference following a meeting with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted: “We spoke the most about migration, because both Hungary and Greece are very familiar with the feeling when the external border of the European Union finds itself under pressure, and we must protect it”. “Over the past five years, Hungary has been continuously protecting the external border of the European Union”, he added. “In view of the coronavirus epidemic, uncontrolled waves of migration now pose an even greater danger than they did before, because in addition to the previous threats of a security and cultural nature, they now also bear with them a major health risk”, he emphasised. The Hungarian Foreign Minister said that in his opinion, it is accordingly regrettable that the EU’s New Pact for Migration is repeating exactly the same mistakes that have already caused major problems for Europe in recent years. “The Pact continues to aim at managing waves of illegal migration instead of stopping them, whereas the goal should be to stop then at the EU’s border, or outside the territory of the European Union”, he stated. “In addition, the Pact also maintains the quotas, even if it calls them by a different name, which remains unacceptable to Hungary”, he noted.

”An important common goal of Hungary and Greece is to support Christians in trouble, particularly in the Middle East, and accordingly we have agreed to jointly fund projects that provide assistance to Christian communities living on the territory of Jordan”, Mr. Szijjártó also stated. “We also agreed that the activities of people smuggling networks must be stopped. Supporting people smuggling and illegal migration is a crime, even if it is performed by an NGO”, he added. “The trans-Adriatic pipeline that will enable us to reach the Greek natural gas pipeline system via Serbia and Bulgaria is expected to be completed by the autumn of 2021, and may therefore also provide an opportunity to purchase natural gas via Greece”, the Minister pointed out. He also said that the 200th anniversary of the Greek War of Independence will be commemorated next year, and the parties will be organising a joint commemoration to mark the anniversary.

In reply to a question, Mr. Szijjártó said: “With relation to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in correspondence with international law, Hungary is standing up in support of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty within the state’s internationally recognised borders, and hopes the issue will be successfully resolved through negotiation”.

The Greek Foreign Minister spoke about the fact that there are no issues that prevent closer cooperation in bilateral relations, and the two countries are able to cooperate with relation to several issues within the European Union. He confirmed that migration is a difficult issue, and that Greece is also under major pressure as a result. “This not only represents a problem to us, but to all of Europe, and accordingly we must find a solution to this problem jointly”, he declared.

Nikos Dendias recalled that Greece has also taken its conflict with Turkey before the European Union. He explained that in his evaluation this conflict developed because while Greece is upholding international law, Turkey is violating it. “If Turkey wants to be a member of the EU, it must comply with international law and must also accept the European Union’s legal regime”, he added.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)