According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, based on events this summer it is justified to state that the security situation in Europe has never been this bad and the threat of terrorism has never been as serious as it is now.
At a press conference on Tuesday in Budapest, Péter Szijjártó stressed: “European leaders are responsible for guaranteeing the security of the continent, and those who are incapable of doing so have no place among the leaders of Europe”. “Their job should be to do something to combat the threat of terrorism”, he declared.
“The standard of the European reactions to the latest attacks in Barcelona and Finland is worrying. Europe’s leaders express their condolences following such attacks, but then continue their statements by saying ‘we will not allow ourselves to be intimidated’ and will not allow the lives of European people to be changed”, he said. According to Mr. Szijjártó, these leaders are “misunderstanding reality”, and “if this is all they are capable of” then it is not an overstatement to say that Europe is in great danger.
121 Hungarian nationals on holiday in Spain have registered with the consular service since the attack in Barcelona on 18 August, he noted. “100 people were registered at the time of the attack, all of whom were duly contacted”, he added. “Security has now also become an important criteria when planning trips within Europe, and the true issues concerning European security remain unsolved because many are incapable of discussing them in an objective manner”, Mr. Szijjártó said.
“One must take a look at who the perpetrators of these attacks are: illegal immigrants or people who arrived or whose families arrived in Europe as immigrants, and whose integration has been unsuccessful”, the Foreign Minister said. “There have of course been successful social integration processes, but there have also been failed ones, and parallel societies have come about in some places”, he explained.
According to Mr. Szijjártó, the events of this summer also indicate that the Hungarian standpoint according to which the problem of illegal immigration can be solved by keeping the migrants out of Europe is correct, because once they arrive, “Europe finds itself in a losing position”.
“The summer has also shown that the number of consular cases has increased extraordinarily; consular services have been extremely overworked, and accordingly staff numbers have been increased by eighty”, he announced. “The new consuls will be in service in Western Europe, Southeast Asia, North Africa, the Near East and Latin America”, he told the press.
With relation to consular duties, the Foreign Minister noted that most recently consular services were involved with relation to the death of a Hungarian university student taking part in an international camp in Italy. In reply to a question, Mr. Szijjártó said that former television personality Jenő Csiszár would be occupying his post as Chief Consul in Milan in September.
(MTI)
