“The European Union’s maritime borders must be defended in the same way as Hungary was capable of defending the EU’s external land borders”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Friday in a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI rom Malta.

The Minister highlighted the fact that the main subjects of discussion during his meetings in Malta had been illegal immigration into Europe and the migration pressure on the continent.

During his official visit, Mr. Szijjártó held talks with his Maltese counterpart, Foreign Minister Carmelo Abela, and with Minister for EU Affairs and Equal Opportunities Helena Dalli, in addition to which he was received by President Marie-Louise Coleiro Precca and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Claudette Buttigieg.

According to the Hungarian Foreign Minister, the approach according to which it is impossible to protect the maritime border cannot be accepted. Australia has defended thousands of kilometres of maritime border in the Pacific so successfully that not a single boatload of illegal immigrants has been able to reach its shores in the past three years. Accordingly, the EU’s standpoint according to which it is impossible to protect the southern borders of the European Union in the Mediterranean in absolutely untenable.

The EU has made a serious omission by doing nothing to protect the maritime border during the past three years. During the past three years thee would have bene plenty of time to establish a European military force that is capable and would have been capable of defending the maritime border”, he added.

Mr. Szijjártó said that in his opinion the best solution would be to ensure that illegal migrants setting out from Africa didn’t even reach the shores of North Africa and didn’t have a chance of getting onto the boats of people smugglers. “In the interests of this, the countries of the Visegrád Group (V4) are showing exemplary solidarity by providing 35 million euros in funding to help protect Libya’s southern border with the aim of preventing migrants who set out from inland Africa from reaching the shores of North Africa and boarding ships there”, he added.

“Today, European security begins on the Mediterranean, and accordingly Hungary continues to represent the standpoint that Europe’s maritime border can not only be protected, but must be protected. This is one of the reasons why the UN’s global compact for migration is extremely detrimental and extremely dangerous to Europe. The document includes two ‘red lines’, which if crossed, would endanger the security of both Europe and Hungary”, the politician said.

One of the statements made by the migration package is that crossing borders illegally should be handled as an administrative issue, and not as a crime. Hungary regards this as unacceptable. In Budapest’s opinion, illegally crossing a border is one of the most serious crimes and accordingly must be strictly sanctioned. In addition, the UN’s global compact for migration also includes the fact that countries must refrain from stopping illegal migrants both on land and on sea. According to Hungary’s standpoint, illegal migrants must be immediately turned around both on land and on year, and must be sent back to where they came from, he added.

“If the UN continues to refuse to back down from this position, it will encourage tens of millions more people in Africa to set out towards Europe”, he said.

“Hungary’s position continues to be that the border must be protected and illegal immigrants must be turned back immediately. Hungary has not admitted single illegal immigrant so far and it will not do so in future”, Mr. Szijjártó stressed.

(MTI)