According to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, we need a strong Europe to enable the continent to remain competitive and also preserve its historical and cultural heritage.
Speaking at a conference in Washington on Central Europe, the Minister explained Hungary’s standpoint on the heated debates on the future of Europe, the immigration crisis and issues of sovereignty.
In his speech, Mr. Szijjártó declared: “There are extremely heated debates going on in Europe concerning the future of the continent, but we must view this as primarily good news, because it is inherent to democracy and is its most eloquent form of expression if important issues can be debated”. “But it is not democratic to call someone un-European or accuse them of breaking with solidarity simply because they happen to assume a standpoint that goes against the European mainstream”, he highlighted. The Minister stated that according to Hungary’s standpoint it is good that there is debate on the future of the European Union, but these debates can only achieve results if they are fought according to common sense. “There is no point to debates that are conducted on an emotional basis, as the recent past has already proven”, he added.
Mr. Szijjártó highlighted the fact that Central Europe and the Visegrád Group can be proud of itself because it has represented the rational standpoint throughout during debates on the future of Europe and in hindsight it has always transpired that the solutions put forward by the Central Europeans are the right answers to the various crisis situations, and that they are viable solutions, in contrast to certain Western “hypocritical answers that have been proven to be inadequate”.
“In Europe, the immigration crisis has now become a sovereignty and security issue. A security issue because immigration has reached a never before seen level of seriousness. The almost one and a half million strong wave of immigration has given terrorist organisations the opportunity to send their fighters and terrorists to Europe to commit terrorist attacks there. It has also become a question of sovereignty because the major part of a state’s sovereignty is represented by whether it is capable of protecting its borders and whether it can itself decide on who it allows into its territory and who it doesn’t. As a result, the wave of immigration that disregarded state borders has taken away some of the sovereignty of many countries. Just as the European Commission wants to take away part of the sovereignty of the countries of Europe by introducing compulsory relocation quotas that take away countries’ rights to decide who can enter the given country’s territory”, the Minister explained.
“During the course of history, including in 1956, the Hungarian nation has proven on many occasions that it will never accept it if others want to take away its sovereignty or its freedom, or at least a part of it. In 1956 we showed that we are capable of taking action to prevent this even against superior numbers”, Mr. Szijjártó said. “And now, on 2 October, the people of Hungary can again make it absolutely clear that they are not prepared to accept attempts to take away part of their sovereignty and freedom, and that we will not accept the fact that someone else can decide in our place who can enter Hungary and who cannot”, he added.
According to the Foreign Minister, regaining the competitiveness, weight and power that Europe has lost within world politics and the global economy requires that we conduct debates that are based on common sense, rather than engaging in disputes that are hypocritical and regarded as politically correct. “The countries of Central Europe have always represented common sense”, he added. “It is a rational approach that can enable Europe to change and regain its strength and competitiveness. By Europe’s strength I mean its economic competitiveness and the embracing of its Christian roots, and I mean preserving Europe’s existing image, but all this requires that we be capable of talking according to common sense instead of holding emotionally influenced debates that are full of hypocrisy”, he added.
Mr. Szijjártó also told reporters that he is in the process of important negotiations with General Motors in view of the fact that one of GM’s European manufacturing centre is in Hungary, in Szentgotthárd, and the plant is one that enables a very modern, so-called flexible manufacturing system, at which the number of employees is expected to increase to 1700 by the end of the year. Parallel to the change in automotive industry technology, the increasing popularity of electromobility and engine development, GM is also continuously increasing its European presence. Hungary would like to play as great a role as possible in this, and this is the subject of a series of negotiations he has just begun with the directors of GM, the Minister added.