The Hungarian position regarding illegal immigration is becoming increasingly more popular, but the Brussels struggle continues, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI.
The Minister said:"we may remember where we started”. Not so long ago, the then Austrian Chancellor "accused Hungary of Fascism simply on account of the fact that we protected ourselves against illegal immigration”. "Let me add quietly that a few weeks later, the Austrians themselves started building a fence with "winged gates’”, he said. He took the view that the situation is now different.
Recently, both the German and Italian Interior Ministers argued that refugee camps should be set up in Africa, rather than in Europe, and even the Swedish Prime Minister stressed the protection of the EU’s external borders, he reiterated.
Mr Szijjártó stressed: in consequence, the Hungarian position is becoming increasingly more popular. "We did not change our position, or it is perhaps more accurate to say that it was not us that had to change our position”, he said.
He pointed out, however: "the Brussels struggle continues”, we do not forget that the Vice-President of the European Commission wants to have a debate with Hungary and Poland about European values.
"Brussels missed the target, Brussels wants to conquer the Member States, and to let the illegal immigrants in”, he stated his view. According to the Foreign Minister, this is unacceptable.
The Hungarian laws are clear: no one can enter Hungary until their application has been assessed and until they have been adequately screened, he pointed out.
Mr Szijjártó took the view that many in Brussels are detached from reality, and also from everyday life, and "regrettably, they are also detached from the people whom they should represent”.
It is possible to engage in abstract debates about a single-speed or multi-speed Europe, but this will not lead anywhere, he explained. He added: we must find the right direction, "and then shift into fifth gear”.
The Minister highlighted: the right direction is where we stand on the ground of common sense, where we stop hypocrisy and the speech that is called politically correct, where we call challenges what they really are, where we speak to the people sincerely and comprehensibly, and where we give real answers in response to the challenges.
He reiterated: today we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, while terrorists are "celebrating” the first anniversary of the Brussels attacks in their own barbarian, inhumane manner, with fighting.
At the same time, the Foreign Minister expressed his condolences to "our British friends”, Hungary, he added, stands by them in times of trouble.
Mr Szijjártó said: in the context of illegal immigration, we have already been proved right, and "we shall now also protect the reduction of household utility charges, the reduction of taxes and our job protection grants”.
He stressed: on the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome we may state that Hungary has "always made its contribution to the success of Christian Europe”.
We can only be successful if others, too, follow suit, the Minister’s communication reads.