At a session of the European Affairs Committee, Deputy State Secretary Pál Péter Schmitt declared: “The outgoing EU institutions are attempting to interfere in issues that affect the future of Europe prior to the EP elections, and accordingly political pressure on governments that are against migration could increase”.

“The greatest challenges of the current period within the European Union include migration, Brexit, the continuing negotiations on the post-2020 budget, and organising the institutional transition following the EP elections at the end of May”, the Deputy State Secretary for the Coordination of EU Affairs from the Prime Minister’s Office said. “Hungary’s standpoint is that an agreement on strategic issues that affect the future of Europe should not be arrived at with the outgoing, current European Union institutions, but with the new institutions that are formed following the May elections”, he added.

“Hungary welcomes the fact that the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union is handling cohesion as a priority area, which also expresses the importance of cohesion policy and the unity of the EU’s 27 member states”, Mr. Schmitt said. “The main political fault-line in Europe today is not being felt between East and West, but in the fact that solutions to the issue of migration do not correspond”, he continued. “For this reason, Hungary has asked the Romanian EU Presidency to be open to the positions of countries that reject migration, and to concentrate on issues on which there is agreement, such as border protection, during both its six-month tenure and the summit to be held in Sibiu (Nagyszeben) on 9 May”, he added.

With relation to the next multiannual financial framework, the Deputy State Secretary underlined: “Hungary cannot support the fact that the integration of immigrants arriving in Europe and the management of migration should be paid for from the joint budget, while the reduction of cohesion funding means that European people, and ultimately poorer regions, will be receiving less funding”.

“The Government has an interest in an ordered Brexit, but is also prepared for the possibility that Great Britain will exit the EU without a suitable agreement”, he highlighted. Whatever the scenario, Hungarian citizens living in the UK will be able to retain their acquired rights, meaning the most important negotiation goal with relation to national interests has been met”, he stated.

The agenda of the European Affairs Committee included the programme of the Romanian EU Presidency, the EU’s six-month political schedule, and Brexit.

(Prime Minister's Office/MTI)