“Martin Schulz is a man of the past and represents the politics that caused the current problems”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Monday in reaction to a speech on the previous day by the German politician following his election as the Social Democratic Party’s nominee for Chancellor.

In a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI, Mr. Szijjártó wrote: “It is obvious that a problem cannot be solved using the same way of thinking that caused the problem in the first place”. “Martin Schulz is incapable of change, and as such he is in fact hindering the reinforcement of European security and the protection of the European people”, Hungary’s chief diplomat said.

According to the Foreign Minister, as the President of the European Parliament the social democrat politician “did nothing to prevent illegal immigration, which is bringing with it terror, and his goal is still not the protection of the people of Europe; his criticism of Viktor Orbán is exclusively aimed at gaining support within German domestic politics”.

“Martin Schulz is wrong. The Hungarian Government is showing a high level of solidarity with Germany, because no illegal immigrants are reaching Germany via Hungary. We are protecting the external border of the European Union, and as such we are also defending Germany, and we spend a lot of money on this protection, and are mobilizing police and military personnel, and only our V4 partners and Austria are providing assistance towards performing this task, but you don’t hear us complaining about a lack of European solidarity”, Mr. Szijjártó stressed, adding that “In contrast, Martin Schulz is doing nothing apart from slashing out and trying to blackmail those who are protecting him”.

In the statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade cited Mr. Schulz’s speech, in which he stated: “The fact that the CSU is courting and celebrating Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is the strongest proponent of disrupting European solidarity and who rejects all forms of solidarity with Germany when it comes to immigration policy, is an open violation of German interests”.

“We are talking about the fair distribution of refugees throughout the continent. Because solidarity and the fair distribution of burdens is the foundation of European cooperation. Germany shows solidarity when it comes to helping other countries, including financially. Germany shows solidarity when other countries feel threatened, and it also complies with sanctions. But solidarity is not a one-way street. If certain countries say “Yes, thank you” to agricultural funds and the instruments of structural funding, but “No, thank you”, when it comes to showing solidarity towards people, then a future federal government is forced to connect the question of solidarity in immigration policy to the upcoming EU programming period”, the statement quoted the SPC candidate for Chancellor as saying.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)