“In contrast to Brussels, Hungary and Bulgaria see helping families as the response to demographic challenges, not migration”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday in Budapest.

The Minister held talks with Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Mariana Nikolova, following which at a joint press conference he stressed: “We will never accept being forced to change this way of thinking from outside”.

“Hungary and Bulgaria agree on the most important issues, and Bulgaria remains a strategic ally of Hungary on European issues”, he stated. “Hungary and Bulgaria are linked by friendly relations, and are placing major emphasis on developing these”, he explained. “The two countries have faced many similar challenges recently, and have provided similar responses to them”, he pointed out.

As he explained, both countries have faced economic, security and demographic challenges, and the Hungarian and Bulgarian governments have formulated responses to these challenges that have proven to be successful. “We agreed that migration is not a suitable response to economic and demographic challenges; these should instead by solved by supporting families”, he explained. “In Hungary, we are creating new workplaces with increasing levels of prestige, and last year was the first in which the number of people returning home exceeded those leaving for abroad in search of employment”, he added.

Mr. Szijjártó said that in his opinion Hungary and Bulgaria also agree that the most important duties of every state include protecting its own borders and guaranteeing the security of its citizens. “The protection of external orders is a priority for both countries; Bulgaria is defending its own border and the external border of the European Union with major border security infrastructure”, he stated. “Building a fence has proven to be a successful response to security challenges for both countries”, he added.

He also said that Bulgaria is not a member of the Schengen Area, and although it is capable of defending its own border, they do not want to allow it into the Zone, while there are Schengen countries that are incapable of protecting their own borders.

“Cooperation will continue with relation to border security; last year 44 Hungarian police officers were on duty along the Bulgarian-Turkish border, and Hungary is also providing technical assistance to Bulgaria”, he noted.

“Neither country voted in favour of the UN Global Compact for Migration, because it threatens to generate new waves of migration”, the Foreign Minister pointed out.

“It is important for Hungarian companies to realise strong foreign investments, and OTP could be one of the most important actors on the Bulgarian market, in addition to which Richter is also performing expanded activities in the country”, he stated, adding: “Eximbank is supporting cooperation between Hungarian and Bulgarian enterprises with a 165-million-euro credit line”.

“During negotiations on the EU’s upcoming seven-year budget, Hungary and Bulgaria will continue to insist that a major role must also be afforded to cohesion funding”, he stated.

Mariana Nikolova called Hungary an important partner and thanked the Hungarian Government for its support with relation to Bulgaria’s negotiations on joining the Schengen Area, and for the assistance it has provided in the interests of stopping the wave of migration at the Bulgarian-Turkish external EU border.

“Intensive dialogue is characteristic of Hungarian-Bulgarian relations, and cooperation is also wide-ranging with relation to both bilateral and EU affairs. Hungary represents the same standpoint as Bulgaria on several important issues, for instance with relation to the Western Balkans, cohesion policy ad agricultural policy”, she said.

The Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister said Hungary is also a major economic partner to Bulgaria and one of the largest investors in the country, and bilateral economic relations should be further tightened.

In reply to a question, Mr. Szijjártó spoke about the fact that New York and Brussels officials are not giving up the fight with relation to the UN Global Compact for Migration, and are now trying to “smuggle” the Compact into various documents chapter by chapter. “But we will not be deceived by these tricks and will be vetoing all documents of this nature, irrespective of what pressure they place on us”, he declared. “We have a clear mandate to do this from the Hungarian people, and will comply act accordingly”, he added.

Also in response to a question, the Minister said: “Hungary would like to reinforce the defence of its strategic objects, and to this end would like to purchase a medium-range air defence system made up of infrastructure that is capable of firing missiles, radar equipment and surface to air missiles.

“The negotiations could soon be entering their final phase, but Parliament’s National Security Committee must simplify the legal conditions and processes relating to the procurement”, he explained, adding that the related proposal will be put before the Committee, but it is still too early to talk about specific expenditures.

Mr. Szijjártó also said that Hungarian or American domestic policy issues were not mentioned at his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday, or at the Prime Minister’s meeting with Mr. Pompeo; only bilateral cooperation was discussed, as well as the political developments that could have an influence on that.

(MTI)