According to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, it is time for facts to be more important in Brussels than opinions, and for the EU to also finally regard illegal immigration as its most important challenge and handle it accordingly.
The Minister issued a statement to this effect to Hungarian news agency MTI on Monday following a statement to Austrian news agency APA by EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Austrian People’s Party Vice-President Johannes Hahn in which he voiced harsh criticism of Viktor Orbán and the Prime Minister’s Europe policy. Amongst others, he said that Viktor Orbán’s politics sometimes bears populists traits, which is ultimately detrimental to European values. According to Mr. Hahn, the message of the weekend’s meeting of the European People’s Party is that the Hungarian Prime Minister must permanently change his behaviour, otherwise he must indeed expect to have to face the appropriate consequences. The Commissioner for Enlargement said that in Rome as a Head of Government Viktor Orbán voted in favour of the further strengthening of the EU, parallel to which he launched a “Let’s Stop Brussels” referendum in Hungary, pointing out the fact that the two are contradictory, to which we can also add the procedure against the Central European University (CEU).
In reaction to Mr. Hahn’s statements, the Hungarian Foreign Minister stressed: Viktor Orbán stated both in the European Parliament and at the Summit of the European People’s Party that Hungary is prepared to discuss disputed issues, but is not prepared to endure “the scornful remarks from Brussels”.
“We expect the Hungarians to be given the respect they have a right to and we draw the attention of the Brussels bureaucrats to the fact that while they are centred on Hungary, the country is defending the borders of the European Union from illegal immigration”, the Minister said. In contrast with the claims made by Johannes Hahn, the Hungarian Government is pro-Europe, as are the Hungarian people. However, Hungary has an interest in a Europe of strong nations and maintains its right to voice its opinion.
The EU is currently in need of reform, and “to deny this would be stupid”, Mr. Szijjártó said, highlighting that one of the most important steps is that existing, jointly adopted regulations must be adhered to, and one such regulation is the protection of external borders, which Hungary is adhering to, and it is also thanks to Hungary that there are fewer illegal immigrants arriving in Europe today. Hungary will not change its immigration policy and will not allow Brussels to remove further spheres of competence from member states and accordingly “push the continent towards uncertainty”, the Minister said, adding that “it is time for facts to be more important in Brussels than opinions (…) and for Brussels to also finally regard illegal immigration as its most important challenge and handle it accordingly.”