According to Gergely Gulyás, due to the issue of migration there is a campaign against Hungary which has been open to compromise with the European Commission in every previous dispute. Migration is the only issue on which it is not prepared to compromise, and this has led to a “political smear campaign” against the country.
The Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office said this in connection with the Brussels meeting of the General Affairs Council.
The Hungarian position rests on the foundation that only electors and the government have the right to determine whom we wish to live together with and whom not, he said. He also stressed that Hungary has allies in this struggle.
According to Mr Gulyás, the Monday meeting of the General Affairs Council and the associated events gave pro-migrant political parties an opportunity to continue the fight against Hungary. Today in Europe there is a genuine difference in views on the issue of migration, he added.
The government takes the view that it is also contrary to the opinion of the EU’s legal service that MEP Judith Sargentini who prepared the report which condemned Hungary met with the members of the General Affairs Council at a separate meeting. The Minister therefore described this as yet another procedural breach.
The politician also said that next year’s EP elections will have a common European campaign topic, and that is none other than migration. Those forces, however, which support migration now see an opportunity to take action against the countries which do everything they can to prevent migration, including Hungary.
In his view, this continues to remain the very point of the Sargentini report which gives rise to the campaign pursued against Hungary.
As part of the EP election campaign, they will intend to extend the procedure against Hungary as much as they can, he observed.
The head of the Prime Minister’s Office expressed hope that in the May elections a majority rejecting migration may come into being against the EP’s current migrant-friendly majority.
Mr Gulyás was asked about the bill proposed by the government which would remove the venues of national commemorations and mourning and memorial days from the concept of ‘public premises’. The Minister said Parliament will have the opportunity to discuss whether the proposed bill restricts the freedom of assembly to an adequate or extreme degree. He said he is always in favour of the exercise of the freedom of assembly, but it is another matter that the implementation of state commemorations in a dignified manner can also be a reasonable and constitutionally justifiable interest. He therefore supports the idea that during state commemorations and during the hours of preparations the state should have priority in the context of assembly.
He added at the same time that anybody who appears to see any similarity between the assembly situation in autumn 2006 and the current situation in Hungary is either unintelligent or a liar.
(MTI/Prime Minister's Office)
