After a meeting with Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that Hungary will take firm action with a view to changing current European immigration policy, because the current uncontrolled and unregulated form of migration is claiming human lives on the continent, and is exposing Europe’s citizens to direct threats.
The EU Treaty must be reconsidered
At his joint press conference with the Macedonian Prime Minister on Friday in Budapest, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán urged a review of the Treaty of the European Union.
In answer to a question, Mr Orbán said that the Hungarian position is that the EU must protect its borders, its culture, its economic interests and its democracy. Confirming a statement made in an interview with radio station Kossuth Rádió earlier in the morning, he said that “Today the current treaty is an obstacle to this, and we should therefore reconsider its terms”. He remarked that the form of the treaty, which was originally designed to accommodate six countries using their own national currencies, “clearly makes our functioning more difficult”.
The Prime Minister said that we must reconsider some fundamental issues in the interest of an effective Europe; he believes that it is increasingly obvious that in its current mode of operation the EU is only able to be reactive, and is unable to enact preventive measures. As an example, he mentioned that Europe had to suffer the terrorist attacks in Paris in order to assign security the place it deserves in European policy.
He said that the British have raised the issue of revising the treaty; they seek to change the European rules on issues of fundamental significance, which will hardly be possible without treaty amendment.
Dublin is dead, Schengen lives
When asked whether, similar to the Dublin Regulation, the Schengen system should also be declared dead, the Prime Minister said that “Dublin is dead, Schengen lives”. The Dublin Regulation is being ignored by an increasing number of EU Member States, while everyone is trying to implement the Schengen Agreement; if that were to die, he said, “walls and fences would be erected, and border controls would be established between countries where they did not exist before”. He stressed that free travel between Schengen countries must be protected, and to this end it is necessary to protect Schengen’s external borders. “Either you are a member of the Schengen Agreement and you protect its external borders, or if you choose not to protect them, you should not be a member of the Schengen Area”, he said.
Hungary supports Macedonia’s EU and NATO membership
At the joint press conference, Mr Orbán stressed that we must recognise that migrants are coming to Europe from territories where EU Member States are involved in armed conflicts, and therefore “we are seen as enemies in those countries, and they see the acts of terrorism perpetrated in our countries as war victories”.
He said that it is an irresponsible policy for Europeans to bring into their own countries the people who may then commit acts of terrorism.
At his meeting with the Macedonian Prime Minister, he reiterated that the Member States and candidate countries of the EU must have the ability to protect their own borders. He reassured his Macedonian counterpart that Hungary will provide every assistance with the protection of borders, whether technical or financial assistance, or personnel. Contact persons have been appointed for the purposes of formal communication, with the Minister of Interior fulfilling this duty for Hungary.
The Prime Minister further confirmed that Hungary supports Macedonia’s admission to the European Union and NATO. With reference to the Greek-Macedonia name dispute, he said that this is also a European interest, despite the ongoing disputes which are delaying the process. Hungary is opposed to “such blocking attempts” being successful. In the view of Budapest, the performance of each country must be judged on its merits, he said, describing Macedonia as a country which is prepared for EU membership and which the EU needs.
Hungary has a strategic interest in seeing every country in the Balkans between itself and Greece becoming members of the EU and NATO, the Prime Minister stated. He said that today there is a “gaping hole” between Hungary and Greece.
Mr Orbán expressed his appreciation to Mr. Gruevski for the “ongoing stabilisation” of Macedonia. The EU can look upon Macedonia as one of the Balkan region’s most stable countries, he highlighted.
At the same time the Prime Minister expressed the hope that the meeting of the Macedonian-Hungarian economic committee to be held before the end of this year will significantly boost economic cooperation.
(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister)