“The member states of the European Union have declared that the key issue with relation to the migration crisis is how can we protect the EU’s external borders”, Minister of State for EU Affairs Szabolcs Takács said following a meeting of EU Affairs Ministers in Luxembourg.

Tuesday’s session of the General Affairs Council (GAC) in Luxembourg dealt, amongst others, with the illegal immigration that is affecting Europe, Mr. Takács said.

According to the Minister of State, Europe “has finally begun talking those issues which it should have begun discussing a lot earlier”. “Hungary has been stressing the importance of border protection with urgency since the beginning of the crisis, as well as the fact that the solution to the wave of immigration can be found outside the territory of the European Union”, he added.

In a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Tuesday, Mr. Takács emphasised the fact that if a member state of the European Union is incapable of protecting its own borders, it must be given support.

According to the Minister of State, the importance of cooperating with countries of origin and transit countries was also discussed at the meeting, with relation to which Mr. Takács stressed that in addition to Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, Iraq must also be included among the group of countries that are most affected by the refugee crisis.

In reply to a question from the press, Mr. Takács said that the possible reform of the Dublin Regulations had also been a topic of discussion at the meeting. In his opinion there are two choices: either every EU member state fully adheres to its legal commitments in accordance with the Dublin mechanism, and then it will transpire whether the system is viable, or if there are weaker links and legal obligations are adhered to in a selective manner, then it can be clearly stated that the Dublin procedures do not work, in which case they must be renegotiated.

The Minister of State stressed that Hungary is fully conforming to both the Dublin Regulations and the regulations of the Schengen Area.

(Prime Minister's Office)