In Brussels on Thursday, following a meeting of Visegrád Group (V4) heads of government, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that “Today the Visegrád Four have decided to provide significant financial support and offer assistance to help Italy protect its maritime borders, and thus defend both Europe and Hungary”.
A video of the statement was published on the Prime Minister’s Facebook page.
“We all know that Hungary is protecting the land borders of Europe, and the maritime borders must be protected by Italy”, Mr. Orbán declared.
The Prime Minister underlined that “Our personal and national security and the security of our families […], the future and safety of our children, their security and a life free from terror depend on whether the Hungarians and Italians succeed in defending the external borders of Europe on land and sea”.
Following the meeting, the Prime Minister stressed that the contribution will assist the efforts of the European Union on Libyan territory: the leaders of the V4 countries have decided to provide significant support for the full financing of the second stage of the programme aimed at reinforcing Libyan border security, and are therefore ensuring its viability. In addition to this, they have also offered their cooperation towards the programme’s implementation.
“The decision to provide financing was made in the interests of reinforcing EU migration policy”, the Prime Minister said, adding that “We have done this because we believe in the unity of the European Union”.
In Brussels, prior to Thursday’s summit of EU heads of state and government, a meeting of the V4 – currently under Hungary’s presidency – was held with the participation of President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni. During this meeting the Visegrád Group’s leaders decided on the provision of financial support for Libyan border protection.
According to a joint statement issued after the meeting, in addition to their existing contributions to other EU and bilateral aid programmes the leaders of the Visegrád Group countries have officially decided to contribute 35 million euros for the full financing of the second phase of the initiative aimed at ensuring defence of Libya’s borders. The initiative is being led by the Italian government and being realised in cooperation with the European Commission.
(MTI)
