“A repeat of what happened in 2015, when hundreds of thousands of people overran the continent unchecked, can never be allowed to happen again”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI by telephone from Copenhagen on Tuesday.
Mr. Szijjártó, who is on a one-day working visit to Denmark, declared: “A joint European solution is required to solve the immigration crisis”.
During his meeting with Danish Deputy Prime Minister Kristian Jensen, the parties had agreed that European border protection is an essential part of the fight against illegal immigration, Mr. Szijjártó told the press.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister also said he had informed his Danish colleague that, in accordance with the contents of the Schengen 2.0 document, Hungary regards the protection of the European Union’s external border as the most important step with regard to handling the immigration crisis.
At the meeting, Mr. Szijjártó stated: “The compulsory resettlement quota system is totally unacceptable to Hungary because it represents an open invitation to everyone who wants to immigrate to Europe. The quotas serve to further increase immigration pressure on Europe and do not provide a solution to the crisis but instead only make the crisis more serious”.
Hungary regard the European Commission’s proposal to fine countries as blackmail, Mr. Szijjártó stressed.
The Foreign Minister also told the press that the economic sanctions against Russia were also mentioned during his meeting with his Danish counterpart, with relation to which he said that Hungary does not support the automatic “under the table” extension of sanctions.
“The future of the sanctions must be the subject of a political debate at the highest possible level, while assessing what results the sanctions have achieved so far”, he declared.
It became clear during the meeting that Denmark is not opposed to an open debate of this nature on the future of the sanctions against Russia, he added.
Mr. Szijjártó also spoke about the fact that Denmark and Hungary are mutually reliable partners, the foundations of which are represented by the existing and soon planned Hungarian investments realised by Danish companies, who currently provide jobs to some 15 thousand Hungarians.
The Foreign Minister told the press that several Danish enterprises are realising and have announced major investments in Hungary. LEGO, for instance, has decided to double its Hungarian production capacity, medical supplies manufacturer and distributor Coloplast is building a new logistics centre in Tatabánya and the world’s largest pump manufacturer, Danish company Grundfos, has decided to relocate its global production centre to Hungary.
During his visit an agreement was successfully concluded with Xellia Pharmaceuticals, which is part of Europe’s largest pharmaceuticals manufacturing group. According to the agreement, the antibiotics producer will be constructing a testing laboratory in Budapest where all of the antibiotics materials produced by the company group will be tested prior to ultimate use. The 3 billion forint (EUR 9.5M) project will create eighty new jobs, the Minister added.
Danish enterprises contribute significantly to the success of the Hungarian economy through job creation and investment, the Hungarian Foreign Minister stressed.