“Europe’s standpoint with respect to the migration crisis has evolved in recent months: the initial debate on accepting and distributing the immigrants is now increasingly encompassing the comprehensive handling of the crisis, which also includes civilisational and cultural elements” Minister of State for EU Affairs Szabolcs Takács from the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister said at a roundtable discussion in Rome entitled “Defending Common EU Values - Towards a Political Integration”, which was also attended by, amongst others, former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and former Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs János Martonyi.

“The leading politicians of the European politics of the past twenty-five years spoke about protecting the European ideals that previous centuries bestowed on us as a heritage we must preserve”, Mr. Takács said, adding that “the current migration crisis that is affecting the whole continent of Europe has raised precisely the questions of where to define the limits of European values and culture, and whether European integration still has a future”.

According to the Minister of State, “Europe’s strength and unity lies in diversity: we must respect the culture of every nation while belonging to the same European community, but parallel to this we must also achieve respect for our own European culture”.

With regard to disputes between EU member states concerning the wave of immigrants, Mr. Takács noted that “confrontation and the occasional more heated debate is also a European value”.

He stressed that Western European countries have experienced a significant “evolution” with regard to the issue of migration over the past six months: “The agenda in April was about what to do with the immigrants and how to distribute them, but migration is now also raising civilisational issues in these same member states”.

With relation to the emergency summit of countries affected by the Western Balkan migration route to be held on Thursday, Mr. Takács declared that according to the Hungarian standpoint, this meeting could have taken place much earlier in view of the fact that the Hungarian Government had indicated that migration via the Western Balkan route posed a major challenge from the very beginning. The Minister of State said he hope the meeting “will take us closer to a sustainable solution”. However, he stressed that in addition to certain EU member states, several non-EU countries will also be taking part in the debate, many of which have markedly different approaches to handling migration.

“The Hungarian standpoint regarding the handling of the crisis is absolutely clear: in contrast to the Western remedy, we shouldn’t be treating the symptoms, but should instead attempt to find a solution to the intricate problem in its entire complexity using a holistic approach”, the Minister of State declared. While in Rome, Mr. Takács also took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at a commemorative plaque to Hungarian students who fled to Rome following the 1956 Revolution.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister)