“The upcoming weeks will be crucial to the European Union because it must make decisions on issues that fundamentally determine both its future and its competitiveness”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Monday in Prague.
Mr. Szijjártó is in the Czech capital attending a summit of the Visegrád Group countries and the Benelux States.
According to the Minister, the most important issues include the migration crisis, the British referendum on its continue EU membership, the sanctions against Russia and visa liberalisation for Georgia and Ukraine.
“Prospects are not too bright, and in fact are exceptionally grim, with regard to these issues”, Mr. Szijjártó noted.
The European Commission’s proposals for a solution to the migration crisis “point in a direction by the EU continues to head towards its own destruction; the European Commission continues to put forward proposals according to a principle that could mean millions more immigrants putting pressure on the territory of the European Union, when what we instead need is to reduce migration pressure on the EU”, the Minister explained.
According to Mr. Szijjártó, Hungary “continues to support the proposal put forwards by Austria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs according to which immigrants should not even be allowed to enter the European Union, but instead the decision on whether or not they are eligible for international protection (asylum) should occur outside the EU”.
The other important issue on which a decision will be made is the sanctions against Russia. “It seems that the decision will be made ‘under the table’ and there will be no political debate on the issue despite requests from several countries in view of the fact that the embargo is having an extremely detrimental effect on the economies of several EU Member States”, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said.
“We regard it as a particularly anti-democratic procedure that the heads of state and government of the European Union’s member States are not allowed to debate such an important issue”, Mr. Szijjártó said, noting that the sanctions have caused some four to four and a half billion US Dollars in losses to Hungary during the past two to two-and-a-half years.
With regard to Brexit, Mr. Szijjártó explained that id the British decided to exit the Union the EU would be extremely weakened both politically and economically.
“This would also have a negative effect on Hungary, because the British represent several ideals that we also share. It is important that these ideals are represented within the EU”, the Foreign Minister pointed out.
“Prospects are extremely grim” concerning visa liberalisation for Georgian and Ukrainian citizens “because the decisions of several large countries have made the affording of visa-free travel practically impossible within the near future”, Mr. Szijjártó said, adding that “We believe that if Georgia and Ukraine are not afforded visa-free travel quickly it will weaken the EU’s Eastern Partnership policy”.
Mr. Szijjártó said that the countries of the Visegrád Group and the Benelux States still see the solution to the migration crisis in two different ways. “We have two very different approaches: they want to distribute burdens, we want to reduce them”, Mr. Szijjártó stated.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
