“The security of the Hungarian people is non-negotiable”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Wednesday in Prague following a meeting of Visegrád Group (V4) and Eastern Partnership Foreign Ministers.
Hungarian news agency MTI asked for Mr. Szijjártó’s opinion on the fact that the European Commission was planning to afford Turkish citizens visa-free admittance to the European Union on a conditional basis.
“Only countries that conform to all the requirements can receive visa-free access to the territory of the European Union, because the security of the people of Europe, including the Hungarian people, cannot be the subject of a deal”, the Minister stressed.
In Mr. Szijjártó’s opinion, “We would be endangering the credibility of the EU if Turkey were to be afforded visa-free travel before Georgia or Ukraine because of a deal”. While Georgia and Ukraine have been working for years to conform to requirements for receiving visa-free travel, Turkey would be afforded the same preferential treatment because of its agreement with Brussels on refugees, he pointed out.
Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Lubomir Zaorálek was of a similar opinion. “Turkey should only be afforded visa-free travel after it has complied with all related conditions”, the Czech Foreign Minister declared at the press conference following the Prague meeting.
“Georgia and Ukraine have complied with conditions and so they deserve to be afforded visa-free travel”, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said, also at the press conference.