Justice Minister László Trócsányi attended a panel discussion at the global international forum World Policy Conference held in Rabat on Friday, 26 October 2018. As part of the discussion, Jean-Francois Copé, Mayor of Meaux and former minister, Jim Hoagland, associate editor of The Washington Post and Polish Senator Bogdan Klich spoke about the issues of migration and multiculturalism.
Mr Trócsányi stressed that the issue of migration must be distinguished from the issue of asylum which is governed by the international norms relating to refugees, while on the issue of immigration every country is free to decide for itself. Today, however, the majority of European countries make no distinction between these terms. Hungary fulfils its international obligations also when it defends the external borders of the European Union.
Regarding the issue of solidarity, Hungary’s justice minister argued that Central Europe perceives responsibility in a different light than Western European countries due to its specific historical development. It is important to see this in the right context: Hungary did not impose its policy upon other states through the exportation of democracy and did not take part in colonisation in any form.
Mr Trócsányi rejected accusations of populism, indicating that it is now customary in Europe that when someone does not adopt the ideas of the European mainstream, they may find themselves branded as populist.
At present, the protection of the external borders of the European Union is one of the issues on the agenda. It is the responsibility of European states to preserve Schengen cooperation, the Minister stressed.
On the occasion of the conference, Mr Trócsányi had talks with Jean-Francois Copé and Thierry de Montbriand, Director of the French Institute of International Affairs.