“The external borders must be protected for the continued survival of the Schengen Area”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI.

In the telephone statement, the Minister said that protecting the EU’s external borders is not only a question of security, but also a question of economics, pointing out that the dependable transport of goods means that relatively little must be spent on warehousing within the European Union, which increases the EU’s global competitiveness.

He drew attention to the fact that debated on the migration crisis are currently ongoing within the EU, pointing out that the standpoint of the Hungarian Government had been clear and unchanged from the very beginning: the external borders must be protected.

“One of our important allies in this debate is Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, who made it clear that protecting the external borders must be the most important perspective in handling the migration crisis”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

“Austria has provided assistance to both Hungary and the countries of the Western Balkans with regard to border protection”, he added.

“I think the election campaign currently underway in Austria is also very important from Hungary’s viewpoint, because is a government led by the People’s Party is able to form, then another one of our important allies will be head of government”, he said.

The more politicians like Sebastian Kurz attain decision-making positions, the greater the chance of the effective protection of external borders being realised, he pointed out.

(MTI)