Claims by Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta with regard to the migration issue are “a total lie“ and are unworthy of a 21st century political leader, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stressed in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Tuesday.
Mr. Szijjártó was reacting to a statement by Victor Ponta according to which “Romania will treat migrants like human beings, unlike out Hungarian neighbours, who herd them with sticks and give them each a number”. According to the Minister, the internal political crisis in Romania and the precarious nature of Victor Ponta’s position are obviously to blame for the Romanian head of government getting carried away and making “such an extreme and false statement”.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed that the Hungarian Government strongly rejects the Prime Minister’s statements and calls on Mr. Ponta to stop lying about Hungary. In his statement, Mr. Szijjártó went on to say that in contrast to claims by Serbian Minister of Labour Aleksandar Vulin, Hungary is providing Serbia with continuous information about what is happening along the Hungarian-Serbian border.
He had personally informed his Serbian counterpart, Ivica Dacic, with regard to the new legal and physical environment that later came into force in Hungary and along the Hungarian-Serbian border this Tuesday, during an unofficial meeting of EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg on 5 September, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed.
Mr. Szijjártó also reacted to statements by French State Secretary for European Affairs Harlem Désir, who in recent interviews with French television channel TV5 Monde and Radio France Internationale on Sunday criticised Hungary for impeding the flow of migrants by building a fence.
According to Mr. Désir, “with these barbed wire fences Hungary is clearly distancing itself from the values of the European Union, which do not consist of building wire fences”, and certainly not of everyone following their own national policies at will. Péter Szijjártó said that Hungary “is standing up for joint European strategy when it comes to handling migration challenges”, and that according to Hungary’s clear-cut proposal, Europe’s first priority must be to protect its borders; all other issues come later.
“Hungary will protect the European Union’s external border in accordance with the Schengen Code”, Mr. Szijjártó stressed, adding that “it is extremely strange to hear such criticism from a State Secretary whose country built a fence at Calais”. The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs said leader of the European Parliament’s socialist group Gianni Pitella’s extreme statement on Monday at the border crossing station of Röszke according to which “seeing the barbed wire fence made me feel as if I’d gone back in time to the Hitler era” was totally derogatory.
Mr. Szijjártó said the statement by Pitella was unfair to Hungary and “totally oversteps the boundaries of decency”. The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs called on the European socialists to stop their campaign of lies against Hungary and refrain from making unworthy comments that “induce pain to tens of millions of people”.