“Without the Visegrád Group, Europe would be a lesser, weaker and more dangerous place”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Thursday in Bratislava during a speech at the Globsec security policy forum.

“A few years ago, a statement such as this would have sounded like arrogance, but today it mirrors the realities, in view of the fact that it is clear that the engine of European growth is here, and will remain here, in Central Europe. It is enough to take a look at the economic growth that has occurred as a result of our rational economic policies, which is much higher than the average growth figures within the European Union”, Mr. Szijjártó pointed out.
The Minister spoke about this during a panel discussion on future Visegrád Group (V4) cooperation, which was also attended by the foreign ministers of the other V4 countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). Poland was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk.

According to Mr. Szijjártó, it is also worth thinking back on the fact that if the countries of the V4 had not done everything possible to prevent the adoption of the mandatory resettlement quotas, then there would but hundreds and thousands more illegal immigrants in Europe today. He added that in his view: “We must also not forget that the countries of Central Europe are keeping a host of important issues on the European agenda that would otherwise have long since been forgotten without them, such as EU enlargement towards the Western Balkans, for instance”.

He pointed out that the debates are ongoing with relation to European financial resources. “We reject the position according to which European Union funding is the result of the kindness of our Western European friends, or a humanitarian donation. This is not the case! European resources are due to us; we are also contributing to the economic performance of the European Union and have fulfilled the contractual obligations that we undertook when we joined the EU, and European Union resources are due to us in compensation for this. We will not accept any procedural order that would decide on how much funding is due to whom based on subjective circumstances and conditions. This is an objective, nonpartisan issue; there is no need for any kind of political procedure, or for any procedures that provide an opportunity for blackmail”, the Minister declared.

During his visit to Bratislava, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade also held talks with Slovakian Minister of Transport Andrej Doležal.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)