“If the Hungarian Government were not practicing a policy of this nature with regard to immigration, Thursday’s hearing of the European Parliament(EP) Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) would not have taken place”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Kossuth Radio’s “Sunday Papers” program.

The Minister said that in his opinion it has become clear during the past one and a half years that the opinions of the Western European political elite and of the people “have begun to diverge”. People in Western Europe have “encouraged us”, saying if only their governments acted similarly, and that “finally someone has recognised the dangers inherent in illegal immigration”.

Accordingly, it came as no surprise that at the hearing many more people spoke up in support of Hungary than against it, and it also came as no surprise that “MEP’s who accused and criticised us” could hardly come up with a single concrete argument, he explained.

The hearing is part of the “same witch-hunt” within the framework of which four hearings on Hungary have been held within a short period, he declared. “If the Hungarian Government were not practicing a policy of this nature with regard to immigration, this hearing would not have taken place”, he said.

“There is no reason for Hungary to be dragged before any of the EP’s committees with relation to the rule of law”, Mr Szijjártó stressed. “We have nothing to be ashamed about; nothing outstanding is going on in Hungary that sets us apart from the other member states of the European Union”, and the county is in the middle of the field with regard to the number of infringement proceedings launched against it, he said.

“General perceptions and feelings, all sorts of unfounded accusations, and stupidities that are derived from one-sided information” were put forward at the hearing, he pointed out.

According to the Foreign Minister, the misconception that is beginning to become prevalent in Western Europe according to which NGOs represent society must be dispelled. “In reality, society is represented be those for whom the people voted”, he pointed out.

The Minister also spoke about the fact that Hungary will continue to refuse to accept illegal immigrants in future, and in the court phase of the infringement proceedings launched with regard to this issue “will muster all possible arguments; we will explain that illegal immigration is a danger to Europe” and that for this reason the mandatory resettlement quota is also dangerous, because “it instils the idea that they are free to come to Europe in the heads of more and more people”. “The quota is also impossible to implement, because everyone is free to move between countries within the Schengen Area”, he added.

As he explained, this also violates European regulations, because according to the European treaties the issue of immigration falls within a national sphere of competence, “and it is everyone’s sovereign right to decide who it allows into its own territory”. “Such a restriction of sovereignty is only possible via the amendment of the European treaties, but that is an extremely long process and must be decided on by national parliaments, not by the European Commission or one of the councils of ministers in Brussels”, he said.

Mr. Szijjártó also mentioned the issue of the Ukrainian Educating Act. On Friday we won “a very important victory” at the session of the EU-Ukraine Association Council, because the EU “embraced the Hungarian expectations” and made it clear that the EU expects Ukraine not to take away previously acquired minority rights, to enter into real and substantive dialogue with national minorities with relation to the Education Act, and to fully implement the recommendations and conclusions of the Venice Commission. “There are precisely the three criteria also put forward by Hungary”, he pointed out.

(MTI)