Hungary is compelled to protect its southern borders, but this measure is in no way directed against Serbia and the Serbian people, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated on Wednesday in Budapest, at the press conference held jointly with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic after the Hungarian-Serbian government meeting.
Mr Orbán stressed: Hungary maintains its legal border crossing stations, and intends to extend and develop them. In other words, „we are not closing down border crossing stations, but we shall prevent illegal border-crossing with any means possible”.
Hungary now finds itself „trapped in a tricky situation” because „further waves of mass migration” are not only coming from the south, but western countries, too, intend to send back illegal border-crossers to Hungary. Therefore, „however much we are not happy about it, and however much we are aware of the consequences, we are compelled to protect Hungary’s southern borders”, the Prime Minister said.
At the same time, Mr Orbán attempted to reassure his Serbian counterpart, as he went on, that this measure is in no way directed against Serbia.
The Prime Minister confirmed: the Hungarian Government takes the view that this is not a question of asylum, and not even a question of economic migration, but a modern-age mass migration which will not stop any time soon. The Prime Minister believes it is a mere illusion that people will only come to Europe from the African crisis zones until peace is brought to those territories. „This is not the case”; "unless we act, we may experience a modern-age mass migration on a scale of millions, or tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions”, he said.
In answer to a Serbian journalist’s question regarding the closure of the border, Mr Orbán said: we are talking about a temporary border closure because we would not like the fence to stay forever. There is no intention of separating the two countries, but Hungary merely seeks to fulfil its border guarding duties.
The Hungarian Government looks upon the issue of the fence as an issue of the protection of Hungary’s borders, the Prime Minister said, rather than as some question of human rights, foreign affairs or bilateral relations. Those who come to Hungary with good intentions may enter Hungary via the legal border crossing stations; however, no one may come to Hungary in such a way that the first act they perform is a breach of the law, he argued.
Mr Orbán stressed that they are making every effort to save and to maintain the favourable Serbian-Hungarian relations in which this affair causes tensions without doubt.
At the same time, the Prime Minister welcomed the agreement of the Austrian-Hungarian-Serbian interior ministers, but in his view it is only a partial solution, given that it is unable to stop the mass migration and can only alleviate the pressure.
Mr Orbán spoke about the Serbian economy in terms of praise; he believes that the figures show that Serbia has been successfully stabilised financially and economically. The Prime Minister pointed out that the stability of Serbia as a country is an elementary interest for Hungary as an unstable neighbour poses considerable risks. If Serbia is not stable, neither is Hungary, and if relations between the two countries are not balanced, the Western Balkans becomes a crisis region, he added.
From among the topics of the government meeting which he described as successful, the Prime Minister mentioned the issue of energy, highlighting: it would be best if a strategic pipeline were built to replace the Russian gas – which will no longer arrive in the region via Ukraine in 2019 – which would transport energy from the direction of Turkey, via Serbia, to Hungary, and consequently to Central-Europe.
In this context, the Prime Minister remarked: „while we must bear criticism in the strongest terms in consequence of ever so mild a cooperation with Russia”, large European firms “shamelessly” sign agreements which serve to supply gas coming from Russia to Western-Europe in the long term. In his view, „this must urge us to be brave” because the limits of tolerance are clearly not set out where many believe them to be. We must find new routes for transporting Russian energy sources to Europe, Central-Europe and Hungary, Mr Orbán stated.
Mr Orbán further pointed out in the context of economic issues: Eximbank’s Belgrade office will open soon, trading house representations will be set up in Szabadka and Újvidék, and in the second half of the year, Hungary would also like to open a trading house in the Serbian capital.
The Prime Minister said that the construction of the Belgrade-Budapest railway line is „a most hopeful enterprise”; the feasibility studies show that even the heaviest axle-weight trains will be able to travel on the new line.
Regarding the issue of cooperation in education and culture, the Prime Minister informed the press that Hungary provides scholarships for 50 Serbian students, but they would like to further increase this number. He also said: the Hungarian Cabinet voted for an allocation of HUF 500 million for the interior refurbishment of the Szabadka synagogue.
The Prime Minister further said that he had accepted the invitation to next year’s joint Serbian-Hungarian government meeting to be held in Serbia.
In answer to a question concerning Hungarians in Vojvodina, Mr Orbán said: the Hungarian community has recently experienced generous and friendly treatment on the part of Serbia – pointing well beyond the customary European standards – which is not at all commonplace in the Carpathian Basin. In his view, the fact that István Pásztor, Chairman of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians was a member of the Serbian government delegation coming to Budapest, while Alexov Lyubomir, parliamentary advocate for the Serbian community living in Hungary was a member of the Hungarian delegation clearly demonstrates the intention to seek friendship and peaceful cooperation.
Before the press conference, Viktor Orbán and Aleksandar Vucic signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the development of infrastructure links between the two countries. Following this, representatives of the two governments concluded a cooperation agreement on the Hungarian-Serbian educational, scientific and cultural action plan, and signed a document related to the promotion of Serbia’s European integration as well as a memorandum of understanding between the two ministries of foreign affairs.