“Former Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski had to cross three borders to get to Hungary, and in all three cases he did so in full accordance with regulations”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday.

“The Former Macedonian Prime Minister presented his documents on all three occasions, and they were duly examined by the authorities”, the politician stressed.

Mr. Szijjártó rejected claims that Hungarian diplomats had been involved in any kind of “smuggling or escape plan”.

“They first saw Gruevski at the Hungarian Embassy in Tirana, and this was when they first heard of his asylum request”, he stated.

In reply to a question, Mr. Szijjártó told the press that he has no knowledge with regard to the fact that Nikola Gruevski left Macedonia as a result of a Macedonian domestic policy background deal.

“Dialogue with relation to the issue is continuous with Macedonia”, said Mr. Szijjártó, who is in contact with the Macedonian counterpart, as is Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér. The Minister told the press that he would be meeting the head of Macedonian diplomacy next on the sidelines of the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in early December.

“Nobody raised the issue at Monday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers”, he also noted.

“The former government members of other countries have requested and received asylum on other occasions”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

He also said that his Ministry has no business with relation to the affair in view of the fact that the authority that made the decision to accept Gruevski’s request for asylum is not under the Ministry’s supervision.

“In early December, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will be attending a meeting of the Central European Initiative in Croatia, and according to plan will be holding talks with his Croatian counterpart”, the Minister told the press.

(MTI/Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)