The European Union should not solely focus on the integration of refugees and migrants as its principal objective, but should consider it equally important to create the conditions which enable the individuals concerned to return to their homelands, State Secretary Szabolcs Takács pointed out.
The State Secretary responsible for European affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office highlighted at the Tuesday meeting of the General Affairs Council: in addition to integration, the repatriation of refugees should also emerge as an important goal, and this should be arranged in conformity with the relevant legal regulations. He added: to this end, however, it is necessary to eliminate the circumstances which compel them to leave their homes.
Mr Takács informed the Hungarian news agency MTI by telephone that he himself and others, too, stressed at the meeting: only those can be integrated who are willing to integrate. Both parties must cooperate – both the integrator and the integrated. During the course of the debate on the rule of law which was conducted at the meeting held in Brussels on Tuesday, the State Secretary found it essential to clarify that, both in terms of terminology and as regards the relevant procedures, we must differentiate between economic migrants and refugees. As he said, this is also in the best interests of the latter.
The State Secretary additionally stressed: quite evidently, the mandatory mechanisms cannot work in the case of economic migrants. Only voluntary offers constitute a viable solution. Mr Takács welcomed the fact that at the meeting of EU Foreign Ministers held the day before, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Schengen 2.0 package of proposals was also incorporated into the approved statement. The State Secretary pointed out in this context: there is ever wider agreement in the European Union to the effect that cooperation with the countries of origin and the transit countries concerned must be a very important element in the sustainable management of the migration crisis.
He further highlighted: it is widely appreciated that the Hungarian Government has a package of constructive crisis management proposals, through the comprehensive application of which the pressure of migration currently weighing heavily upon Europe could be significantly reduced, in Mr Takács’s view.