Not since the end of World War II has Europe been compelled to face as many formidable challenges as today, Péter Szijjártó said at the Budapest Corvinus University.
Europe is in a terribly difficult situation, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade pointed out at the opening of the conference week of the Heller Farkas College of the Budapest Corvinus University.
The head of Hungarian diplomacy mentioned five root causes that are responsible for this difficult situation. By his account, the fact that there is once again a war in the region due to the crisis in Ukraine, the difficulties of the EU’s Eastern Partnership programme, the economic challenges the region is facing, terrorism and the problem of immigration are all equally responsible for the current situation.
Mr Szijjártó pointed out in the context of the crisis in Ukraine: at this point in time, not many are able to assess the economic, political and humanitarian effects of the crisis. At the same time, he described the policy of sanctions as “an insultingly over-simplifying approach” which does not offer even a hint of a solution.
He remarked: due to the international sanctions, Hungarian exports to Russia have decreased to less than one half in the past two years which represents an annual loss of USD 2 billion for the national economy, and at the same time, exports to Ukraine – which has lost one fifth of its economic potential – have also decreased by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Regarding the Eastern Partnership programme, the Minister reiterated that from among the six former Soviet republics participating in the programme, there is only one country – namely Belarus – which has no frozen territorial claims against one neighbour or another, and concerning the democratic nature of these States – drawing a parallel with improved relations between the United States and Cuba – he pointed out: “Europe cannot be any more hypocritical or restrained” than the United States.
In the context of the economic challenges, the Foreign Minister highlighted: the EU’s extremely slow internal decision-making mechanism works in peace-time, but it is no longer operational with the evolution of the new world order.
Regarding the issue of terrorism, Mr Szijjártó said: “we have not achieved any results at all yet” with the extremely broad coalition which has come into being in the fight against the Islamic State. The terrorist organisation is conquering increasingly large territories, and more and more people are leaving their homes as a result. This is another reason why the efforts of the international community should be significantly intensified in order to curb the organisation and the threat of terror that it poses.
Concerning migration, Mr Szijjártó stressed: this is not a refugee crisis but an immigration crisis as those who are coming to Europe are not fleeing to save their lives but set out for Europe in the hope of a better life. The root causes which induce these people to set out must be terminated, the Minister pointed out.
He mentioned in this context the restoration of peace in Syria, the establishment of a unity government in Libya, and the need for providing development grants for countries in the Middle-East and Africa which will keep these people in their own countries. He further argued that “the policy of open borders must come to an end”, that is, we must put an end to the situation where tens and hundreds of thousands of people are crossing the borders of European countries without documents and are refusing to cooperate with the local authorities.