Szabolcs Takács, State Secretary for EU Affairs of the Prime Minister’s Office held talks in London regarding the reforms of the European Union required by the United Kingdom, and Hungarian-British EU cooperation in that context.
The State Secretary told the Hungarian News Agency after his talks on Tuesday: he met with Oliver Letwin, Minister for Government Policy in the Cabinet Office, and Sir William Cash, Member of Parliament for the Conservatives and Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee, among others.
Mr Takács said: he deemed it important to obtain an overall view of the British Government’s EU policy, with special regard to the fact that Prime Minister David Cameron first officially outlined the EU reforms which London sees necessary for the future maintenance of its EU membership less than a week ago.
The State Secretary told his negotiating partners that Hungary fully agrees with the elements of the UK package of proposals which serve to reinforce the sovereignty of the Member States, including the reinforcement of the role of national parliaments.
The Hungarian Government therefore also agrees with the British demand that the Member States of the eurozone should not be allowed to adopt measures which are also binding on EU Member States outside the monetary union.
At the same time, Mr Takács stressed at his meetings in the context of the planned UK restrictions on social benefits provided for foreign EU workers that the Hungarian nationals working in Britain are interested in finding employment. They go to Britain to work, rather than to avail themselves of social benefits. “We appreciate the criteria of the Brits (…), but we find it important that the Hungarians working in the United Kingdom should not be regarded or referred to as migrants”, he said.
He added: this is particularly important now when “there is some chaos of terminology in connection with the mass migration”.
The State Secretary believes it is also important that the rights of Hungarian nationals arising from EU membership should not be curtailed, and that the changes contemplated by Britain should not be discriminatory.
The refugee crisis was also mentioned during the course of Mr Takács’s talks in London. According to the State Secretary, the British partners are much more understanding towards Hungary’s position on this issue than a number of other EU Member States. In the light of the series of attacks committed in France, there was further agreement on the need for reinforcing the EU’s external borders, in addition to keeping the processes of immigration under control, in order to protect ourselves more effectively against the threat of terrorism, the State Secretary added.