The Minister of Justice of Hungary has called for a common register of European citizens imprisoned on terrorism charges in EU member states.
Minister László Trócsányi briefed Hungarian News Agency MTI about talks with his French counterpart Christiane Taubira and other French politicians in France on 12 and 13 January.
At talks with Minister Taubira in Paris they agreed on the importance of justice cooperation in combatting terrorism. The Hungarian Minister said that the central register he proposed could be established in the framework of such cooperation while respecting data protection aspects.
Prison overcrowding was also a topic of their talks, he noted, adding that he had requested his French colleague’s support for a Central European initiative aimed at using EU funds for building new detention facilities.
Minister Trócsányi said they informed each other about regulations on hate crime and discussed victim protection as well.
The minister said he met MEPs of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), the French partner party of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz, to brief them on the political and economic situation in Hungary as well as values set in the country’s Fundamental Law.
Minister Trócsányi said he expressed his concern that the enforcement of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality at a European level were not appropriate.
He also told them that the issues of political refugees and migration were in two separate categories. Those persecuted on political grounds must be handled as refugees, whereas migration driven by economic consideration must be “reconsidered”, Minster Trócsányi said, adding that this issue must be addressed at a European level considering the fact that the principle of free movement of persons refers only to EU citizens.