“Protecting the security of the Hungary people is the Government’s most important task in view of the fact it was given a mandate and responsibility to do just that at the elections”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Friday in Budapest following a press event on another topic.

The Minister said he expects the migration pressure on the European Union to increase. “Tens of millions of people living in the vicinity of Europe could decide at any moment to set out towards the interior of the continent”, he added, stressing that it is in Hungary’s national security interests to stop migration, and accordingly anyone who is working against this goal must count on having to deal with the consequences.

With relation to U.S. customs measures and the Brussels response, Mr. Szijjártó declared: “As an export-orientated country, Hungary would regret the development of a trade war between the European Union and the United States”. “A series of German-American disputes could be particularly harmful in view of the fact that it would affect Hungary’s most important trade partners from both within and outside the European Union, and for this reason the Government is calling for dialogue to resolve the related issues”, he added.

Mr. Szijjártó pointed out that the U.S. customs measures affect Hungary directly to a lesser extent in view of the fact that only 1 percent of metal exports are destined for the United States, but other countries that are forced out of the American market could appear in regions in which Hungary also has an interest.

(MTI)