The European Union continues to significantly underestimate the threat of migration in the millions, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said after the meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.
Péter Szijjártó pointed out: if the EU loses its authenticity before the countries which are at present providing care for the majority of refugees, the situation may well arise that, instead of the current hundreds of thousands, millions will appear at the borders of the EU, „will knock on the door, and enter at once”.
In the Minister’s view, it is therefore evident what needs to be done: the EU must agree with Turkey above all, as well as with Jordan and Lebanon, within the shortest possible time. The Minister stated: Hungary supports the agreement on the action plan intended for Turkey, and the acceleration of visa liberalisation.
"If the European Union is unable to regain control over its borders, and is unable to come to an agreement with Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq as to how we should contribute to the care of refugees in these countries, we may expect a flood of millions of immigrants”, Mr Szijjártó explained, reiterating that we have as yet failed to achieve any meaningful breakthrough in the management of the root causes either in respect of the stabilisation of the Middle-East, or in the fight against the Islamic State. The Minister pointed out: we must come to an agreement with the countries around Syria „very urgently” in order for them to retain the flood of refugees, and „to prevent another wave of immigration into Europe”.
"If these millions of people do not receive adequate care, if these people cannot lead a dignified life, and if they lose faith in returning to their homeland in the future, they will not think twice about deciding to set out for Europe”, the Minister stressed, particularly emphasising Turkey’s key role, and pointing out at the same time that Europe, too, has an interest in accelerating the Turkish visa liberalisation process and opening a new chapter in the accession talks which Ankara would like to achieve.
Mr Szijjártó also covered the issue of border guarding, and said that there was a serious debate on this issue among the ministers which was not entirely free from emotion. He reiterated that the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg takes the view that it is necessary to guarantee the guarding of the external borders.
"This is a nice objective, but the problem is that it does not work. If it worked, we would not have had 357,119 illegal migrants entering Hungary up to this morning", the Minister highlighted.
The Minister took the view: if the Visegrád border guarding cooperation proves to be successful on Hungary’s southern border, „no one can validly argue” against the 28 Member States of the EU protecting the external border of Greece together.
Mr Szijjártó reiterated that a great many criticisms had been levelled at the Hungarian Government due to the poster campaign, as part of which it sought to draw attention to the fact that those who come to Hungary must observe the laws. He pointed out that, by contrast, the Foreign Minister of Luxembourg reported that migrants do not cooperate with the authorities and refuse registration; i.e. they violate and fail to observe the laws of Europe at the very first opportunity that arises. "If they come to Europe, they must observe the European laws”, the Minister reworded the message of the posters.
The Minister further said that his Croatian counterpart questioned the logic and effectiveness of the border fence which is currently being built on the Hungarian border. In response to this, Mr Szijjártó pointed out that Hungary is obliged to protect the external borders under the rules of the Schengen zone, as well as to ensure that the border can only be crossed at the designated border crossing stations and during their opening hours. The Minister also stated: given that the Croatian asylum system collapsed within 24 hours, and Zagreb transports asylum-seekers to the Hungarian border wilfully and with state support, Hungary is only able to guarantee this with a physical border fence and an appropriate number of border surveillance staff.