“On Tuesday at the UN’s headquarters in New York it transpired that what is at stake during the series of debates on the global migration package is whether migration should be stopped or organised”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday.
The Minister told the press that the series of debates, which began on Tuesday, will be made up of four rounds, following which a decision on the so-called Global Compact will be made at the end of the year.
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“A decisive majority of the UN’s member states are countries that are sources of migration or transit countries for migration, and accordingly they have an interest in the organisation of migration and the adoption of the package”, Mr. Szijjártó declared. “In opposition to them, Hungary is calling for migration to be stopped”, he added.
He also said it was strange that instead of concentrating on the security of its citizens, the EU is also representing a policy in favour of organising migration in the UN, based on which it wanted to adopt a joint EU standpoint on the issue prior to Tuesday’s session. “This was vetoed by Hungary, despite which, in an unparalleled fashion, it was nevertheless presented as the EU’s unified standpoint and they wanted to prevent the Hungarian standpoint from even being put forward”, he said.
The Minister told the press that according to the Hungarian proposal put before the UN, migration cannot be regarded as a favourable process, and it can and should be stopped. “In addition, Hungary does not agree with the establishment of migration routes, the deconstruction of border protection and the permeability of borders. The Hungarian proposal relating to the migration package does not agree with the fact that migration is a fundamental human right, in addition to which it increases the threat of terrorism and undermines security”, he added.
The next round of talks will be held on 12 March, he told the press.
In reply to a question, the Minister declared that in contrast to accusations, Central Europe is showing solidarity towards Western European states because, for instance, Hungarian border protection, which was established using the country’s own funds at a cost of 1 billion euros without help from the EU, has exempted Germany from a significant burden. “Hungary could have spent the money it has put towards border protection on boosting the economy, and not long ago it also contributed 35 million euros to Libyan border protection together with the other countries of the Visegrád group”, he added.
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Hungary does not accept the fact that the funding that is due in accordance with EU treaties can be tied to political conditions because in exchange for that funding Hungary has opened its borders to Western companies that have realised profits as a result, most of which they subsequently took out of the country. “The cohesion funds are not a generous donation, but funding that is due on the basis of an agreement, in addition to which most of the money finds its way back to net contributors”, he stressed.
(MTI)
