“In the European theatre, the battle surrounding the assessment of migration will continue, and as we approach the decisive European Parliament elections, the pro-immigration forces have launched another attack on those European countries that have assumed a position against migration”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared in a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI from Vienna.

The politician is attending an informal two-day meeting of EU foreign ministers in the Austrian capital.

According to Mr. Szijjártó, the Vienna meeting also concerns the migration situation and possible responses to migration, and it is already evident from the agenda of the meeting and the events held so far and to be held tomorrow that the battle surrounding the assessment of migration will continue within the European theatre. He drew attention to the upcoming European Parliament elections, which will have a decisive effect, in view of which pro-immigration forces have launched another attack on those European countries that have assumed a position against migration.

“This attack is being led by the French President, and it would now seem that the northern countries are also attempting to gain as much credit in this battle as possible by to all intents and purposes launching a competition with relation to which can criticise the countries of Central Europe to the greatest extent”, the Minister said.

Mr. Szijjártó underlined that the pro-immigration forces are taking a stand in opposition to the will of the European people; they want to change the make-up of Europe’s population and adopt decisions that will further undermine Europe’s security.

“The pro-immigration politicians are going against democratically elected governments, and are not shying away from the falsification of history during the course of the dispute”, Mr. Szijjártó said, referring to the criticism of Hungary voiced on Wednesday by Sweden’s Migration Minister. In her statement, Heléne Fritzon claimed that there is no difference between illegal immigrants and the refugees who fled the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. On Wednesday, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström wrote on Twitter: “Viktor Orbán in Hungary and Matteo Salvini in Italy want to form an alliance against the democrats and the left in Europe”.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister called Fritzon’s words a “falsification of history”.

“The 1956 Hungarian refugees waited peacefully in neighbouring states for weeks, months and sometimes even years for a country to admit them; they did not attack police, they did not cross borders illegally, they did not march across dozens of peaceful countries and they did not demand to be able to arbitrarily choose their new home”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said. With relation to the statement by his Swedish counterpart, Mr. Szijjártó responded: “Viktor Orbán and Matteo Salvini are true democrats in view of the fact that they are fighting against illegal immigration in accordance with the will of the European people”.

The Minister told reporters that as a result of these unfounded accusations, Sweden’s Ambassador to Budapest had been summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Thursday.

At the Vienna meeting of EU foreign ministers, Mr. Szijjártó made it clear: Hungary will be sticking to its position according to which immigrants should not be distributed, but instead should not be allowed into Europe, and those who have arrived illegally must be sent back to where they came from immediately.

“I also made it absolutely clear to my colleagues that Hungary will not allow anyone to falsely criticise Hungary unpunished during the course of the Europe Parliament election campaign or individual national elections campaigns, as occurred on this occasion in Sweden”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

(MTI)