“The Brussels hearing on Hungary planned for Thursday by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) is a cross between a ruthless witch-hunt and a show trial familiar from communist times”, Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács declared at an international press conference in Brussels.
Similarly to the show trials and medieval witch trials, it is difficult to tell in advance what the result of Thursday’s hearing will be, but what will transpire is that the majority of the charges are based on double standards and are part of a politically motivated attack, Mr. Kovács said.
He declared that Hungary has nothing to be ashamed about with relation to EU procedures and cooperation. “At the end of previous proceedings, or when interim conclusions have been published during the course of proceedings, it has regularly proven to be the case that Hungary has fully conformed to the conditions set down within the European framework in every respect. True criticism, institutional criticism based on the rule of law, is not being directed towards Hungary, only political criticism”, the Government Spokesperson underlined.
Mr. Kovács highlighted the fact that it is a problem and it raises major concerns if European Union or similar proceedings are launched against member states purely as a result of differences in political opinion. “This is especially true if these proceedings are not conducted with relation to all countries”, he said, adding: “This indicates that if we have to fight for justice and for the interests of the Hungarian people, then we must turn to the highest possible forum”, Mr. Kovács underlined.
“These legal proceedings have taught us that there are disputes with relation to which it is worth going all the way up to the final court level, because it has transpired on several occasions that the EU institution that launched such politically motivated proceedings applied double standards”, Mr. Kovács underlined.
With relation to illegal immigration, the Government Spokesperson said: “Hungary was the first country in the European Union to introduce extensive and working measures in the interests of stopping illegal immigration, which maintain the opportunity to keep the inflow of immigrants under control. Thanks to these measures and the constructed physical elements, the number of successful attempts to illegally cross the border is now approaching zero. Parallel to this, new regulations continue to enable legal entry into the country and the European Union”. “By doing so, Hungary has fully conformed to its responsibilities and to requirements”, he added.
Mr. Kovács said that in line with the results of the latest National Consultation, the Hungarian Government plans to continue its efforts to combat the migration-related goals set down in the so-called “Soros Plan”. “According to Hungary’s repeatedly voiced opinion, it is not enough to handle illegal migration, but illegal migration and all its institutionalised forms must be stopped, because migration does not in itself contribute to the future of Europe and cannot provide a solution to the problems caused by unemployment”, he declared. With relation to the security risks inherent in migration, the Government Spokesperson stressed: “Hungary does not accept the fact that European institutions want to determine the number of refugees that countries must accept on a mandatory basis”. “This must remain within a national sphere of competence”, he declared.
With relation to the proposals concerning the reform of common refugee regulations put forward towards the end of last week by Estonia, which is the current President of the Council of the European Union, according to which the Dublin system would continue to not include permanent resettlement quotas of a mandatory nature in future, the Government Spokesperson said: “It is not only true of Hungary and the Visegrád Group (V4) that they are capable of common thinking, and seeing things and making decisions based on common sense”.
“The proposals confirm that some things should not be forced, because not only do they overturn the consensus, but they also represent an extreme danger to Europe”, he said.
“The Estonian proposal indicates that neither Hungary nor the countries of the Visegrád Group are alone in Europe with relation to their opinion on illegal migration and their ideas for a solution”, Mr. Kovács added.