Hungary will oppose the global migration package in the strongest possible terms until it accommodates each of the 12 points submitted by the government, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stated in Pozsony (Bratislava) where he had talks with Miroslav Lajcák, President of the United Nations General Assembly, Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding the international organisation’s global migration package which is currently in the making.

Mr Szijjártó informed Miroslav Lajcák that the Hungarian position is at complete variance with the fundamental approach of the migration package as Hungary does not agree with the premise that migration is a good and unstoppable phenomenon; by contrast Hungary believes that the opposite is true.

“We believe that migration is a negative process, and the European experiences of the past two and a half years factually support this claim”, the head of Hungarian diplomacy stressed, adding that Hungary, supported by the Visegrád countries, including Slovakia, has proved that migration can be stopped.

These facts demonstrate that the underlying tenet of global migration is a lie as migration is not a positive phenomenon, but a dangerous process, and it is not unstoppable – it can be stopped, Mr Szijjártó pointed out.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said at the next intergovernmental meeting to be held in April the government will state its position related to the importance of the protection of the borders; namely that it is unacceptable that the migration package continues to uphold that border breaches should not be treated as criminal offences, but as mere administrative affairs.

“We take the view that a border breach is one of the most serious criminal offences that can be committed against the sovereignty of a country”, Mr Szijjártó said, stressing that the international community should focus on punishing border breaches with the full force of the law, instead of finding excuses for those committing them.

The head of Hungarian diplomacy said in answer to a question that as regards the perception of this issue, the position of the Central European countries is closest to the Hungarian approach, while the new Austrian government, too, has adopted a similar stance. At the same time, we must see that also in Italy anti-immigration parties received the largest number of votes at the latest elections, and some countries in the Far East and Australia, too, are urging a much more stringent migration policy than that proposed by the UN Secretary-General. He pointed out that these approaches are at variance with the attempts of UN bureaucrats and the majority of Member States to do away with any sub-categorisation within the category of migration.

“Quite evidently this is unacceptable, and several members have raised objections”, Mr Szijjártó said.

The Minister also highlighted that there is a regrettable attempt within the European Union on the part of the European Commission which seeks to prevent EU Member States from stating their own views during the rest of the debate. The European Commission wants the EU to state that it supports the migration package already at this point in time.

“This is absurd (…) as we have completed only two of the six rounds of negotiations. If the EU states already at this point in time that it supports the package (…), then it effectively signs a blank cheque which is an extremely dangerous thing to do”, Mr Szijjártó pointed out.

In Pozsony the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade also met with Slovak Minister of Economy Peter Ziga with whom he conducted talks about infrastructure projects. Additionally, Mr Szijjártó visited the Pozsony headquarters of the Hungarian party in Slovakia, the Party of the Hungarian Community (MKP).

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)