No EP dictate or indictment of any kind is able to induce the Hungarian government to change its immigration policy, Gergely Gulyás stated in Parliament.
The Minister spoke about this in the general debate of the proposed parliamentary resolution regarding the protection of Hungary’s sovereignty and the rejection of the false accusations levelled at Hungary.
The Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office who submitted the motion as Member of Parliament together with other MPs said the Sargentini report is about the fundamental rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. This is a pro-immigration report whose sole purpose is to break the Hungarian government’s opposition to immigration, and to condemn the Hungarian government because it is defending Europe’s borders, he said.
They are condemning Hungary, he continued, because Hungary makes it clear that help must be taken to places where there is trouble, rather than bringing problems to Europe.
He said socialist, left-wing, communist and liberal MEPs and the liberal half of the European People’s Party who would let anyone into Europe if it was up to them and who believe that Europe’s survival can be guaranteed if the very last signs of European culture are eliminated evidently do not like Hungary’s border protection efforts.
Mr Gulyás stressed that Hungary rejects immigration, and takes the view that, according to the Treaty of Lisbon, every Member State has the right to freely determine its position on the issue of immigration.
Those who voted for this report, including Hungarian MEPs, call this right of Hungary into question, he pointed out. He added that those who voted for the report believe that the same practice which has led to parallel societies and has caused social tensions in Western Europe and which countries much richer than Hungary are unable to manage should be put into place everywhere.
Mr Gulyás stressed that the government is ready and willing to answer the questions raised in the report in any organisation of the EU, but unless the EU and the EP are seeking to destroy institutionalised Europe, reports of this nature should be rejected with a large majority.
In his view the voting percentages show that Western Europe is out to condemn Central Europe. This is due to the lack of tolerance manifested by the Western European elite towards the values represented by Central European societies, he explained.
“In contrast to the rapporteur’s intolerant attitude, we support the ideal of tolerance. We believe that everyone has the right to determine whom they wish to live together with and whom not”, he pointed out.
He said it is out of the question that the EU’s 28 Member States will come to a common position on the issue of immigration. “If someone believes that it is possible to reach a common position on the issue of immigration, they are doing nothing less than destroying the European community”, he stressed.
According to Mr Gulyás, either they accept the different decisions of the individual countries, or this will mark the beginning of endless accusations and finger-pointing which will weaken European cooperation and will eventually destroy it.
The Hungarian government is committed to meaningful and reasonable European cooperation based on the provisions of the Treaties and written law, and therefore rejects reports which condemn, on the basis of unfounded accusations, an immigration policy which stands on national foundations and seeks to preserve national and European identity, Mr Gulyás said.
He pointed out that five years ago the EP adopted another decision condemning Hungary, the Tavares report. The situation is more serious today because in the EP political will is becoming the yardstick of law, a process “which calls to mind the worst Bolshevik traditions”, he said.
He argued that MEPs voice views suited to their political preferences by setting up criteria which either do not exist or do not fall within EU competence, and adopt decisions based on these which are contrary to fundamental technical considerations and gravely violate the Treaty of Lisbon and Hungary’s sovereignty.
Mr Gulyás also pointed out that the Hungarian government will turn to the European Court of Justice due to the EP’s proceedings because it takes the view that there was no two-thirds majority that would have been required for the adoption of the report.
Regarding the findings of the report, the Minister said each item listed in the report in a critical light serves to eventually get to the bottom line, the fundamental rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, and to make a pro-immigration declaration of condemnation which is irreconcilable with the position of the Hungarian government.
In his view, the EP’s rapporteur partly makes untrue claims, and partly seeks to repeatedly bring up issues on which Hungary has already come to an agreement with the European Commission. The report relays the message to everyone that there is no point in conducting talks with the EC, reaching compromises and amending laws in consequence because this is no obstacle to bringing up a case repeatedly a few years later as a political accusation, the representative of Fidesz said.
(MTI)
