The outcome in Hungary of the EP elections may have a crucial impact on the future of the European Union, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office stated at a Budapest forum regarding the future of Europe.
Gergely Gulyás took the view that at next year’s elections people will have to decide what stance Europe should take on the issue of migration. In the opinion of the Hungarian government, member state sovereignty cannot be curtailed to any degree on the issue of migration. In this respect Hungarian electors will have to give Brussels a clear answer, the politician added.
Mr Gulyás said Europe has never before been as divided as it is today. However, by this point in time the East-West division has turned into an ideological division. According to one of the two distinctly different views, the future of the continent lies in a United States of Europe, while the other view lays the emphasis on the importance of a community of sovereign Member States, he said.
He stressed that according to the position of the Hungarian government, a United States of Europe cannot succeed because its tenet presumes that Member States would give up their national identities. And to his end, many believe that even more migrants should be resettled into Europe, the Minister warned.
Mr Gulyás highlighted that Brussels is not Europe, and the institution of the European Parliament has become a mere caricature of itself: it tramples upon countries without any self-control. In this context, he took the view that since 1979 internal political issues within the Member States have determined the composition of the European Parliament. Today, however, the issue of migration has become a pan-European cause. This is also testified to by the fact that the elections held in the Member States recently have been dominated by the issue of migration. In this European debate Hungarian electors, too, may take part, the Minister said.
He also drew attention to the fact that the procedure instituted against Hungary in the wake of the Sargentini report has no real significance. We can rest assured that some countries will exercise their veto should anyone wish to restrict Hungary’s voting right, he said. We are not alone, the countries of the Visegrád cooperation are strong allies of Hungary, Mr Gulyás said.
He also pointed out that the greatest failure of the past term of the European Parliament is that the citizens of one of the strongest Member States, the United Kingdom decided to leave common Europe. The leaders of the European Commission and the European Parliament should have resigned the day after the Brexit vote, the Minister said.