In a speech in Jerusalem on foreign policy issues related to Hungary and the EU and on the European migration crisis, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said that the European Union must be able to protect its borders.
At the beginning of his two-day official visit to the region, the Minister gave a speech to Israeli politicians and experts at an event organised by the Israeli Council on Foreign Relations (ICFR), which operates under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress.
Mr. Szijjártó, who at the outset promised a straightforward and open speech, pointed out that Europe has been facing its biggest challenges since the Second World War; in Eastern Europe, the situation has worsened, and in many areas there are ongoing frozen territorial conflicts. As for the western parts of the continent, countries have become extremely indebted as a result of high state welfare spending.
Mr. Szijjártó added that all this has been accompanied by terrorist threats, partly caused by recent mass migration. He said that hypocritical European politicians call mass migration a refugee crisis, while in fact migrants are not heading for Germany and Northern Europe in order to protect their lives, but for economic reasons – since already on their arrival in Greece their lives are not in danger. According to the Minister, the sources of migration are inexhaustible: masses totalling 30–35 million may begin their journey to Europe.
Mr. Szijjártó said that the EU must be able to protect its borders: freedom of movement does not involve crossing borders without papers and controls. At the same time this is a question of security, since a number of former fighters from Middle East conflict zones may be among the migrants.
The Minister said that EU Member States must be able to jointly protect the southern Greek borders, and in the future serious decisions must be made on border control and the restoration of security. A top priority task is to help migrants remain in their homelands, the Minister added.
In answer to a question, Mr. Szijjártó emphasised that governments in Europe must keep the issue of anti-Semitism in their sights, as Hungary does. The Orbán government has called for zero tolerance against anti-Semitism, and pays special attention to maintaining a continuous dialogue with Jewish communities. Although there are isolated, insignificant manifestations of anti-Semitism, there is no need for concern: Eastern Europe’s biggest Jewish community is undergoing a cultural renaissance.
Replying to another question, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted that Hungary does not support the separate labelling of Israeli products coming from territories occupied during the 1967 war, as it regards this as an ineffective measure, which does not promote a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but simply causes harm.
Following his speech, the Minister visited Israel’s Holocaust museum Yad Vashem, placed a floral tribute in the Hall of Remembrance, and wrote an entry in the institution’s visitors’ book.
In the afternoon Mr. Szijjártó was scheduled to visit the Israeli parliament (the Knesset), to hold talks with Benjamin Netanyahu (the Israeli Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and leader of the centre-right party Likud), as well as with the centrist opposition party Yesh Atid’s president Yair Lapid, who is of Hungarian origin.