“The Hungarian Government’s Schengen 2.0 proposal is not the problem; it is the solution”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI on Friday.

Mr. Szijjártó was reacting to a statement by Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselbron published in German language Luxembourgish daily Tageblatt concerning the court petition submitted by Hungary and Slovakia against the compulsory refugee resettlement quota about which he said he found it “particularly annoying”. Furthermore, according to Mr. Asselbron the Hungarian Schengen 2.0 proposal is torpedoing the reform of the Dublin system and has only one goal: to keep refugees out. The Luxembourgian Foreign Minister is supporting the European Commission’s recommendation for the introduction of a compulsory resettlement quota.

With relation to the above, Mr. Szijjártó explained: The statement by the Luxembourgian Foreign Minister is further proof that Hungary must continue its battle against the compulsory resettlement quota. Many politicians in Brussels continue to support the fact that Brussels should decide who the people of Hungary should live together with, he said.

According to the Hungarian Foreign Minister, “It is annoying the Brussels bureaucrats” that Hungary has attacked the decision on the compulsory resettlement quota via the European Court of Justice and they are also not happy with the fact that Hungarian Government is preparing to call a referendum on future decisions relating to the quota. The Brussels bureaucrats don’t like the fact that the Hungarian Government is protecting the interests and security of the Hungarian people, “but we will not change this no matter what they say”, he stressed.

“Luxembourg’s Minister of Foreign Affairs is sitting back to front on a dead horse” and is one of the few politicians who have still not realised that Europe’s attempt to introduce a quota has failed, Mr. Szijjártó said. “Jean Asselbron is wrong: the Hungarian 2.0 proposal is not the problem. On the contrary, it is the solution”, he declared.

Europe’s borders must be protected, immigrants must be identified at the border of the European Union, the existing regulations must be upheld and the provision of aid must concentrate on the crisis regions”, the Hungarian Foreign Minister explained.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)