“Following the Manchester attack it is clear: we are in the twenty-fourth hour with regard to guaranteeing European security”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Tuesday in Sopot, northern Poland, at a meeting of foreign ministers from the Visegrád Group (V4), Baltic and Northern European countries.
Following the meeting, Mr Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI: One of the most important topics at the meeting was European security. In light of the challenges we are facing from the East and South it is clear that the European Union “has no time left to waste, and following the terrorist attack in Manchester it must be clear to everyone that we are in the twenty-fourth hour with regard to guaranteeing European security”.
“Everyone in Europe must finally take seriously the fact that the stakes are extremely high”, he declared, adding that the continent has never before had to face such a high threat of terrorism. “Instead at making unfair and unfounded accusations against each other, and instead of attempting to salvage the existing Brussels policy that has already been proven to be mistaken, everyone must understand: European strategies and decisions must be aimed at restoring European security”, Mr. Szijjártó stressed.
If certain Brussels politicians and institutions are “incapable of putting an end to their crusades against certain member states” and do not instead begin concentrating on restoring security, “they are the ones who will be responsible if the security of the EU continues to worsen in the upcoming period”, he highlighted.
Referring to the European Parliament’s 17 May decision concerning Hungary, he declared: “There exists a European institution, the European Parliament, which even in the midst of the most serious threat of terrorism is concentrating on exonerating a terrorist in the face of Hungary”.
According to the Hungarian Foreign Minister, migration not only bears with it a security risk, but also a significant economic risk; certain European countries are using migration “to justify continuous checks on the internal borders of the Schengen Area”, when the weakening of the Schengen Area is against the interests of the whole of Europe.
Mr. Szijjártó said the long-term continuation of internal Schengen border controls was unacceptable and extremely damaging, and “could cripple the European economy, including that of Hungary”.
“Accordingly, we are calling on the EU and the countries of Europe to cease their policy of internal border controls, and that we should instead focus on defending the European Union’s external borders”, he emphasised.
With reference to recent comments by the German and Italian interior ministers concerning the need to protect the EU’s external border, Mr. Szijjártó said he was glad that more and more European politicians “are recognising the correctness of Hungary’s standpoint according to which, in addition to protecting the external borders, we must push our lines of defence outwards to Africa, and the question of who is eligible to enter the EU at all must be decided outside the EU”.
Prior to the meeting, Mr. Szijjártó met with his V4 counterparts and on Tuesday afternoon also held bilateral talks with Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende.
(MTI)
