“The attitude of EU institutions to the immigration crisis is disappointing because despite the absolutely obvious consequences they continue to concentrate on how to bring even more people to Europe”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI during a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday.
Mr. Szijjártó declared that it was time for the European Union to put an end to its current politics and stop sending invitations to migrants, who put their lives at risk for a hope, the outcome of which is at the least doubtful.
“The consequences of the so-called pull factors are clearly visible’, the Minister said with reference to the latest news from the BBC according to which hundreds of migrants bound for Italy have drowned in the Mediterranean on the coast of Egypt.
According to Mr. Szijjártó, the EU should be dealing with ways to decrease pressure on the European Union’s external borders and discussing what national and European measures this necessitates. We should be reinforcing the Schengen Regulations and their enforcement before the planned amendment of the Dublin system, he added. “A new system cannot be based on the fact that nobody is taking the old system seriously and no one is upholding its regulations”, he said.
This is why the Hungarian Government has put forward its ten-point proposal aimed at protecting the European Union’s external borders and the freedom of movement within the EU, Mr. Szijjártó said. According to the Minister, if a Member State proves incapable of upholding Schengen Regulations, the joint European border protection agency should take over border protection duties based on a treaty. If, however, an agreement cannot be reached on such assistance, then the Schengen membership of the given country should be suspended, he emphasised.
Mr. Szijjártó again stressed that Hungary totally rejects both the “dismally failed” European proposals based on quotas and the attitude according to which immigration is a good solution to demographic and job market challenges.
Topics of discussion at the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers include Iraq, Syria, Libya and the Islamic State terrorist organisation, as well as the Eastern Partnership.
With relation to Iraq, Mr. Szijjártó said they would be recommending that the European Commission prepare a proposal package to help the Kurdish region in Iraq, which is on the verge of collapse and home to over 2 million internal refugees.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister also reacted to a statement on Monday by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, according to which the arrival of refugees is inevitable and it would be naïve to believe that they can be stopped by border security fences. Mr. Szijjártó strongly disagreed with this. The wave of immigration can only be stopped by protecting borders; this must definitely be the first step, he declared.
EU defence ministers are due to meet in Luxembourg on Tuesday; also present at the meeting will be NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Parliamentary State Secretary Tamás Varga from the Ministry of Defence will be representing Hungary at the meeting.
(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)