The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade appreciates the fact that the Dutch Foreign Minister telephoned him on Friday with relation to the statements made by the outgoing Dutch Ambassador, but stressed: he does not want to exacerbate the conflict, but nobody can defame Hungary without consequences.

On M1 Hungarian television’s Friday evening current affairs programme, Péter Szijjártó was asked with relation to the fact that in an interview for Hungarian news portal 168 óra (168 Hours), outgoing Dutch Ambassador Gajus Scheltema said, amongst others, that extremist Islamists “create enemies according to the same principles as the Hungarian Government”.

The Minister said, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders telephoned him a few hours ago and said it was “’obvious” that what the Ambassador had said about the relationship between terrorism and Hungary did not mirror the standpoint of the Dutch Government, and disassociated himself from them, adding he was ‘not happy” about the statements.

Mr. Koenders asked that we attempt to reduce tensions, Mr. Szijjártó added.

The Minister asked his Dutch counterpart to make this clear publically, which, he added, has since happened.

Mr. Szijjártó said that on Monday he would be consulting with Hungary’s Ambassador to The Hague, who was called home on Monday, and the Hungarian chargé d’affaires would be visiting the Dutch Foreign Ministry “to conduct this discussion once again”.
“A decision on what steps should be taken next would be made on Monday”, he said.

The Dutch Foreign Minister made it clear that the Ambassador was not representing the standpoint of his Government and disassociated himself from the statements, and he “appreciates the phone call”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted. He would be reviewing the statement issued by the Dutch Foreign Minister in detail, he added.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister said he does not want to exacerbate the conflict, and it is in nobody’s interests for there to be an ongoing dispute between two EU member states, but, he added, Hungary did not ask for the Dutch Ambassador to draw a parallel “between the way of thinking of the Hungarian Government and that of terrorist organisations”, and accordingly we cannot be expected to be magnanimous in such a situation.

“Nobody can defame Hungary without consequences” he declared.

“The dispute can be traced back to a single point: there are pro-immigration and pro-security governments within the European Union; Holland is pro-immigration, while the Hungarian Government regards the safety of the Hungarian people as its priority”, Mr. Szijjártó stressed.

This diplomatic dispute between the two countries was caused by the Dutch Ambassador’s “unacceptable” statement, the Minister said.

Mr. Szijjártó also indicated that this diplomatic problem did not affect economic relations.

(MTI/kormany.hu)