“The increasingly strong tensions in the Western Balkan region represent a major security risk to Hungary”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI on Tuesday after attending the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia.

In a telephone statement the Minister said that in view of developments in the south-eastern neighbourhood of the European Union – the still unsolved border disputes, the increasing spread of religious radicalism and parallel to it the continuous escalation of the threat of terrorism – it is impossible to exclude the possibility of another wave of migration setting out for Europe during the course of the autumn.

“This is why the instability in the Western Balkans represents a major security risk to Hungary, because if the uncertainty in the Western Balkans remains, the horde of immigrants will have no trouble crossing this unstable region and a wave of immigration could reach Hungary’s southern border within hours”, he pointed out. According to the Minister, this could lead to a repeat of the scenes experienced last year, which must be avoided at all costs.

Mr. Szijjártó also said he thought Hungary could not prevent this from happening alone; the EU must also take action. “We are urging for two steps on the part of the European Union”, he said, citing as the first the acceleration of the EU integration of the countries of the Western Balkans. “Accession negotiations with Serbia must be concluded by 2020, Montenegro must also be accepted into the EU after having successfully become a member of NATO, in addition to which accession talks must also begin with Macedonia at the earliest opportunity”, he stressed.

“If we cannot integrate the Western Balkans into the EU then the Central European region will to all intents and purposes be totally unprotected from the south”, he warned. The second task is to provide support to the countries of the Western Balkans, he continued. “EU countries must provide assistance to the countries of the Western Balkans to enable the latter to stem the flow of migration via Western Balkan routes”, he emphasised.

“We expect the countries of Europe to help these countries protect their borders to enable the line of defence to be pushed as far south as possible”, he said, adding that “Hungary has already been helping the countries of the Western Balkans and will continue to do so”.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister pointed out that over a hundred Hungarian police officers have served in Macedonia at various times since the crisis began and now the Serbian government has also asked for assistance to help protect its southern border, “and Hungary will help Serbia”.

During the Bled Strategic Forum, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade held bilateral talks on European security and energy policy with Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars RInkevics, Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec and his Romanian counterpart Lazar Comanescu. Mr. Szijjártó also met with Parliamentary Secretary to the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pamela Goldsmith Jones, OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, Macedonian Minister for Economy Driton Kuchi and Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

The Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs first organised the Bled Strategic Forum in 2006, and it has grown to become one of the region’s most important events. The motto of this year’s 11th international conference was “Safeguarding the Future”. The event was attended by 700 participants from seventy countries.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)