“The decision of the European Parliament on the adoption of the Sargentini Report is the petty revenge of the pro-immigration politicians”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday.
The Minister stressed that by adopting the document they are condemning Hungary and the Hungarian people because “we have proven that there is no need for migration and that migration can be stopped”.
According to Mr. Szijjártó, the decision is the result of trickery, because votes in abstention were not included in the result, in disregard of the clear stipulations of the European treaties. “We will be reviewing the available opportunities for legal redress”, he added.
“The decision is yet another piece of clear proof that pro-immigration politicians are in a massive majority within the European Parliament (EP)”, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said, adding: “We also knew, and it has been proven today, that pro-immigration politicians are also in a majority within the European People’s Party (EPP)”.
“The intention to form a coalition following the May elections has without a doubt been clearly revealed, as a result of which the liberals, the social democrats and the group of European People’s Party MEPs who have just condemned Hungary will be forming a coalition aimed at ensuring that the EU continues to practice pro-immigration politics after May and has the opportunity to flood the continent with immigrants”, he explained.
In the Minister’s opinion the fact that the decision-makers know that Hungary will never accept or implement a pro-immigration policy, and the Hungarian people have made a clear decision that Hungary will never be an immigrant country, also played a role in the decision.
As he explained, the Hungarian people also determined that “only we can decide with whom we want to live, here in our country”, and it is the duty of the Government to protect the people’s security and the country’s borders.
The report is “full of qualified lies” and is a “pro-immigration indictment” of Hungary. “The Hungarian rebuttal, a 108-page document, was delivered to every single MEP, but the debate has proven that the facts did not matter”, he said.
“The report makes 69 conclusions, 13 of which concern issues that have already been resolved. The Report re-opens these issues; in other words it is saying that there is no point coming to an agreement with EU institutions, because another institution can re-open the case at any given time”, he pointed out.
According to the Foreign Minister, the Report includes 19 cases with relation to which dialogue, procedures and/or consultations are ongoing. “It also includes 37 false, deceitful, unfair and unfounded accusations that insult Hungary, and which have absolutely nothing to do with reality”, he said, citing as an example the fact that the report accuses Hungary of anti-Semitism and states freedom of the press doesn’t exist in Hungary, and that academic freedom has been restricted.
The Minister said that in his view this was a conceptual procedure, because Sargentini compiled the report without even sending an official delegation to Hungary and only took into account the opinions of NGOs that are openly opposed to the Government, in addition to which the document was adopted in a deceitful manner.
“We are fighting for an EP, European Commission and EPP in which anti-migration politicians are in the majority”, Mr. Szijjártó emphasised.
In reply to a question, the Minister said that Fidesz is the strongest member of the EPP party family, and its strongest party based on its level of domestic support. “It has become clear, however, that there are major differences within the EPP with relation to the issue of migration. We are fighting to ensure that ‘our position becomes the majority’, and for the EPP to return to the Christian democratic path, which means preserving European identity and insisting on Christian democratic traditions”, he said. We will “fight for this until we can”, he added.
On Wednesday, the EP voted to adopt the special report on the state of the rule of law in Hungary with 448 votes in favour, 197 against, and 48 abstentions.
The adoption of the report required a majority of at least two-thirds of the votes and an absolute majority of all MEPs (meaning at least 376 votes). Votes in abstention were not counted as cast votes.
According to the document compiled by Green Party MEP Judith Sargentini, which the EP’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) had previously adopted with a large majority, there is a danger of the grave and systematic violation of EU values in Hungary, which justifies the launching of Article 7 proceedings in accordance with the Treaty on the European Union.
(MTI)
