“Hungary is showing extreme solidarity towards Germany in view of the fact that we are protecting our borders out of the forints of Hungarian taxpayers, and accordingly are also protecting Germany from illegal immigration”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in reaction to statements by German Chancellor Angela Merkel published in a Saturday newspaper interview.
“Hungary has spent over 800 million euros on border protection, and has received no assistance at all in this endeavour”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade stressed.
The Minister expressed his joy at the fact that more and more people in Europe are supporting the standpoint that Hungary has been continuously putting forward for the past two years. “The Hungarian Government has been saying from the very beginning that instead of bringing the trouble here we should be providing assistance where the trouble is”, he said.
“Germany is our most important economic partner”, Mr. Szijjártó emphasised, pointing out that “German companies are carving a big slice out of the EU funding that arrives in Hungary, and this is something we do not begrudge them at all in view of the fact that they are providing employment to Hungarian people, meaning this situation is good for everyone”.
In an interview published in Nordwest Zeitung and Passauer Neue Presseon on Saturday, in reply to a question concerning how she plans to convince Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and other Eastern European heads of government, who continue to refuse to cooperate even after the recent decision by the European Court of Justice, with regard to the distribution of refugees among member states base on solidarity, German Chancellor Angela Merkel highlighted: We must not forget that “the vast majority of EU partners” are prepared to accept refugees and there is “full agreement” on several issues relating to refugee policy and “we are jointly achieving concrete progress”.
This is true from the issue of protecting external borders to the fight to stop the reasons that force people to flee their homes, and “only a few countries continue to outright refuse to accept refugees”, she said.
However, “we need solidarity” in the EU, and countries that refuse to show solidarity “must count on the fact that there will be consequences, including with regard to future negotiations on financial support”, Angela Merkel said.