An agreement was reached by the Visegrád countries that the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland will also take part in the protection of the external border of the European Union and the Schengen zone on Hungary’s southern border, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told Hungarian journalists on Thursday in Luxembourg.

The Minister attended a migration conference with the participation of representatives from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and the Western Balkans countries together with the ministers of home and foreign affairs of the rest of the EU Member States. EU institutions organised the conference at the initiative of Hungary. The Hungarian Government would have originally liked for Budapest to host the conference, but the Minister pointed out that Hungary does not see this as a prestige issue. What matters is that the EU is dealing with the topic. He remarked that the EU started tackling migration coming via the Western Balkans later than it should have; it would have been more prepared, had it started paying attention to the problem earlier.

“We, Hungarians tried to draw attention to the issue in vain; the EU concentrated on the Mediterranean alone”, and there is still no common solution to the situation in the Western-Balkans, Mr Szijjártó explained.

He told the press that the migration crisis is a serious global problem which calls for a serious global solution. The Minister found it objectionable that a number of European leaders refer to the protection of the external borders as a priority in their verbal communication, but do nothing to this end.

The Minister takes the view that the EU is carrying the largest burdens of this global problem, and pressure will increase for three reasons. He pointed out that, at this point in time, the fight against the Islamic State is unsuccessful; the terrorist organisation is not retreating but gaining ground. There is no progress in the stabilisation of the Middle-East and North-Africa, and the number of those who may potentially seek to set out has increased. Thirdly, the countries of the Western Balkans are unable to detain the flood of people. He added that this is in no way a criticism but a factual statement; in actual fact, they cannot be expected to stop the flood of migration if the EU itself is unable to do so.

The Minister further said that the number of those arriving via the Western Balkans will increase significantly during the winter; last year, one half of the total migrants crossed the border in the last quarter of the year. Mr Szijjártó stressed that unless the EU takes action urgently, Europe will soon find itself under migration pressure in the magnitude of millions.

“This must be avoided, this must be prevented. This is in the best interests of Hungary and Europe as well”, he underlined.

He told the press that the external borders of the EU must be closed, Europe must take over the funding of the refugee camps in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Kurdistan, and must provide immediate help for these countries so that they can provide for the refugees on their territories in order to prevent them from setting out for Europe. Mr Szijjártó highlighted that aid worth USD 300 million must be provided for Iraqi Kurdistan because the region’s economic and fiscal situation is deteriorating, and it will not be able to sustain the two million refugees staying on its territory who may as a result also set out for Europe.

The Minister further covered the issue of the EU quotas determined with a view to the distribution of refugees, pointing out that the Hungarian Government finds the imposition of the mandatory quotas on the Member States unacceptable as it curtails Member State rights and violates national sovereignty.

(MTI/Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)