Hungary has historic merits in the protection of the Schengen borders and the sealing of the Balkans migration route, and will hold out to the very end in order to preserve the right to decide who may stay in the territory of the country, János Lázár, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office said on Tuesday at his annual hearing in the Committee on European Affairs.
Mr Lázár stressed in the context of immigration: it is unquestionable that Hungary played a decisive role in the sealing of the Balkans route as it was a decision of the Hungarian Government which the European Commission did not support in 2015, but Hungary was able to achieve this feat primarily in cooperation with Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia.
We managed to seal the Balkans route, to protect the borders and to observe the Schengen regulations. In this Hungary has historic merits as few countries were willing to openly take this stance. At the same time, all the more countries opted for „sly duplicity”, adjustment and the making of compromises, he said. He added: they also withstood the attacks coming from left-wing and liberal circles from multiple continents which have been levelled at the Government on account of this decision in the past two years.
In reference to the European Commission’s position relating to a uniform system of immigration institutions, he stressed: Hungary will hold out in this debate to the very end, even if infringement procedures or European Court procedures are instituted against the country, because it is convinced that this issue falls within Member State competence and the right to decide who may reside in the territory of Hungary and who is granted citizenship cannot be handed over to Brussels.
He said: the Hungarian Government takes the view that the policy which relies on immigration for the demographic future of Europe is an ill-conceived policy. There are immigrant countries whose future, life and internal political and social situation in the next 20 years will be affected and determined by immigration, but it does not in any way follow from this that the Central-European countries, too, should be turned into immigrant countries, he stressed.
The Minister described the economic growth of Europe as an interest of Hungary, but in his view security cooperation is also important so that Europe should not only be rich, but also strong, and he therefore suggested that the idea of a common army and a common security policy should be considered.
Mr Lázár said: it will be a highly important intellectual challenge of the term of governance between 2018-2022 to define how Hungary will participate in the new types of EU cooperation schemes, how Brussels bureaucracy could be curbed, and how Europe could be guided in the politically correct direction. He stressed: Hungary’s foreign policy and EU policy are equally determined by the culture of cooperation.
The Minister further spoke about the fact that the preparations for the debate related to the EU budget beyond 2020 have already begun, and they have therefore prepared a fact-finding document about the positions released by the Member States, the European Parliament and the European Council. He said in justification of the importance of these preparations that, according to estimates, Brexit may account for a deficit of some EUR 100 billion, and in consequence, we may expect a nominal fall in the EU budget. In answer to a suggestion concerning Brexit, he said: they are able to protect the rights of Hungarian workers who are working in the United Kingdom also at present. Regarding the utilisation of the EU funds from the period between 2007-2013, he said: Hungary absorbed in excess of one hundred per cent of the available allocation.
Mr Lázár remarked in response to Fidesz contributions in praise of the Ministry’s work: the circumstance that the Government is in good shape is thanks to the fact that „the Prime Minister regularly sorts things out in the heads of the members of the Government and government officials” regarding EU affairs. In response to the objections of Tibor Bana of Jobbik to the effect that a limited circle closely associated with Fidesz and the Government benefits from the EU funds, while Hungarian SMEs „are drowning in the swamp of bureaucracy”, Mr Lázár said: funds are being distributed in accordance with stringent, complicated and clear legal rules, and bureaucracy is a concomitant of transparency. He remarked: it would be nothing short of a miracle if all 65 thousand awarded businesses were pro-Fidesz.
Szabolcs Takács, Minister of State for EU Affairs and Eszter Vitályos, Minister of State for EU Developments also made contributions at the meeting. They rendered detailed accounts of Hungary’s EU policy and the utilised EU funds. After the hearing, Mr Lázár said in answer to a question concerning the rise in the costs of the refurbishment of the Carmelite Monastery: the total budget of the project is HUF 7 billion less than originally planned by the Government, and they set up a project model in which the Government Control Office checks every invoice before payment. In consequence, this is a system with double guarantees. In response to the question concerning the salary rises at the central bank, Mr Lázár said: executive power cannot comment on the activities of the central bank as it is completely independent of the Government. He added: salaries at the Hungarian central bank must be in line with the relevant European average.
Concerning the case of the procurement of life support machines, the Minister stressed: the Hungarian State seeks to procure equipment of the very highest quality. He regrets, however, that a Member of Parliament spoke up in Parliament in favour of one of the suppliers. In answer to another question, he took the view that the market of county newspapers conforms to the constitutional right to the availability of diverse information. He remarked: it has been a very long time since county newspapers stopped influencing what people think.
(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)
