“The European Union isn’t about blackmailing each other; this is extremely un-European behaviour”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on Thursday in Budapest.

After giving a speech at a conference on security policy, Péter Szijjártó told reporters: “Common regulations must be adhered to, just as Hungary is adhering to common regulations. It would be good if Greece did so too”.

As the Minister explained, the Schengen Regulations clearly stipulate the responsibilities of countries that lie along the external borders of the Schengen Area.

“It would be good if Greece conformed to common Schengen Regulations and stopped blackmailing everyone else’, he said.

Mr. Szijjártó was speaking in reaction to statements by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in the Athens Parliament on Wednesday according to which Greece will continue to block the European Union’s political solutions until member states implement an agreement on the fairer distribution of refugees. Furthermore, the Greek Prime Minister called on EU governments to immediately conform to agreements relating to refugee policy. “Athens will not accept the fact that there are states that are not prepared to accept a single refugee, but are instead building fences”, Mr. Tsipras stressed.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)