“The Brussels bureaucracy is waging a revenge campaign against Hungary and Poland, but the two countries can always count on each other”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest following talks with his Polish counterpart.

At the joint press conference following the meeting, the Minister highlighted: “Hungary and Poland are standing up for their own national interests and represent a straightforward and honest standpoint in international debates, in addition to which they are both standing up for the need to protect European Christian heritage”. “The Brussels bureaucracy is waging a revenge campaign against these two countries, but we will not give in”, he stated. “The goal of the two countries is a strong Europe, which can only be built on strong member states”, he added.

According to the Hungarian Foreign Minister, the Brussels attacks have no true basis and are only founded on political motivations as a result of the fact that Hungary and Poland do not want to become immigrant countries and are going against Brussels’ immigration policy.

Hungary and Poland were the first two European countries to make it clear that they will not be voting in favour of the UN Global Compact for Migration, and they are now working together to resist all further attempts to “push the Compact down countries’ throats” piece by piece, he explained.

Mr. Szijjártó pointed out that the two countries are also in agreement in debates on border protection, and believe that border protection is an exclusively national sphere of competence and the duty of individual states.

The Minister told the press that according to both Hungary and Poland assistance should be taken to where the trouble is, and this is why they are rebuilding an orphanage in the Syrian city of Homs with the support of the Hungarian and Polish governments.

“Our soldiers are also fighting side-by-side; we are taking part in the UN mission in Libya to assure the country’s stability”, he also stated. “50 Hungarian soldiers will be serving in the mission”, he added.

“Poland is Hungary’s fifth most important trade partner, and last year bilateral trade flow exceeded ten billion euros. Our joint plan is to construct a high-speed railway line connecting Warsaw and Budapest”, the Foreign Minister said.

Mr. Szijjártó also told the press that in March Hungary will be opening a consulate in Wrocław. Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz stressed: “The EU is living through an important period, there will soon be European Parliament elections, new institutions will be formed, and new budget frameworks will be established, and this is also why it is important to reinforce Hungarian-Polish cooperation”. The Polish Foreign Minister, who is also taking part in the Ambassadors’ conference, which has been ongoing in Budapest since Monday, told reporters: “We need a strong, democratic and efficient EU, and accordingly reforms are unavoidable”.

“Hungary and Poland represent a similar position with regard to migration, in addition to which they are working in close cooperation within the Visegrád Group in the interests of effectively representing their opinions within the EU”, he stated. In reply to a question, Mr. Szijjártó responded to press reports according to which Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Winfried Kretschmann has cancelled their planned meeting in Stuttgart on Friday.

Baden-Württemberg is an important trade partner and he will be holding talks on economic issues in Stuttgart, including with the directors of Mercedes, the Foreign Minister told the press. The Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg is an extremely biased, pro-immigration, green party politician with whom he would have sat down to hold talks as a result, “but it is not a problem” that there will be no opportunity to do so, Mr. Szijjártó said.

(MTI)