In response to Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann’s interviews on migration, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI that the Austrian Chancellor does not see the difference between solidarity and foolishness.

Solidarity according to the Minister is when people in need are supported establishing their lives close to their homes in dignity, and are provided the possibility to continue their lives in their home countries once the conflicts are over. Foolishness however is when someone wants to bring hundreds of thousands and millions of people to Europe in an uncontrolled manner, he explained. Today, everyone can see that neither European, nor migrants “are getting what they had expected”, he said.

Mr. Szijjártó added that the Austrian Chancellor is making untruthful statements about Hungary, “as per usual”, and he is trying to bring even more migrant to Europe by unethically blackmailing EU countries and by trying to distribute migrants according to mandatory resettlement quotas.

In his interview with Austrian daily Österreich, Mr. Faymann said that in his view, the “coalition of the well-intentioned” is looking for solutions, but the Visegrád countries keep rejecting their proposals. In a debate in Austrian public television channel ORF he said that everyone arriving in Europe should be registered in external reception centres, and those entitled to protection should be distributed among EU Member States. This however can only work, he said, if procedures and benefits are the same across the EU.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)