“It is the firm position of the Hungarian Government that order must be restored in Europe”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared in reaction to the Friday shootings in Munich.

The politician told Hungarian news agency MTI that the primary task of European politicians should be to return and restore security to the people of Europe, and that in his opinion all European policies must now point in this direction.

“The situation in Europe is not normal, because if it was then there would be no need for months of state of emergency in France or for three months of level 3 terrorist threat in Belgium, the location of the European Union’s capital, and if the situation were different it could not occur that two vile attacks are committed against innocent people in German within the space of a week”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

“We must protect ourselves from the extremists and the terrorists; we must protect ourselves at our borders”, he added.

“Hungary stands by Germany in this ‘extremely difficult situation’; we express our condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery”, he declared, and stressed “It is shocking that such ‘vile attacks’ can occur in a region of Europe that is viewed as being so safe”.

In the early hours of Saturday morning an 18 year old German-Iranian man shot and killed nine people and injured 27 others at the Olympia shopping centre in Munich, and in a nearby fast food restaurant, before committing suicide.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)