“The situation in Syria seems hopeless”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared in the recess of the meeting of European Union Member State Foreign Ministers in Luxembourg.
Mr. Szijjártó told reporters: “Although the possibility of a peaceful solution seems remote, the Member States have made it clear that only a political solution can lead to peace in the Middle Eastern country”.
“The EU Foreign Ministers have called on Russia to act to help curb the bombing of the Syrian regime by political means and to facilitate the immediate arrival of humanitarian aid”, Mr. Szijjártó said, noting that there is no unified EU standpoint on possible sanctions against Russia.
“In Hungary’s view, if the situation is Syria doesn’t change then Europe will lose out because of the increasing immigration pressure”, the Foreign Minister said.
“It is in Europe’s clear interests for an agreement to come about between the United States and Russia, because only that can lead to a political solution of the conflict”, he added.
Mr. Szijjártó told the press that in their statement the Member States had made it clear that the conflict cannot be solved through military means. The text also states that air force missions over Aleppo must be discontinued and everything must be done to prevent an even more serious humanitarian disaster.
Following a proposal by Hungary, the text also reinforces the importance of actions against terrorism, in addition to which the fact that crimes against religious communities is a punishable offence has also been included in the document, he added.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said that the section of the European Union’s global strategy that deals with defence and security policy places the emphasis on legal migration, and accordingly Hungary has proposed that the document should not be welcomed by the Council, which would have meant the adoption of this standpoint on migration.
At Hungary’s proposal, a statement was attached to the Council session’s document, stating that the implementation of the global strategy can in no way effect the keeping of Member States’ immigration policy within a national sphere of competence. “This means that each Member State determines its own immigration policy”, he highlighted.
“Hungary believes that immigration is not the solution to the challenges faced by the European Union and all of Europe. And that includes challenges relating to demographics and the labour market”, the Minister said.
“It is time to leave all approaches that are not aimed at reducing immigration, but which continue to encourage immigration and want to distribute migrants among member States behind us”, he added.
“In Hungary’s view, protecting the borders is the number one priority. Everything else can only follow once the European Union is capable of protecting itself. Hungary has already provided a suitable example”, the Minister declared.
“During the negotiations, Hungary stressed that the fight against terrorism must continue and that EU-run hot-spots for registering asylum seekers must be established outside the territory of the European Union so that decisions on who can and cannot enter the territory of the European Union can already be decided there”, the Hungarian Foreign Minister told the press.