The foreign minister said illegal migration and increasing drug use are two serious global security challenges linked to organized crime, and the European Union’s measures are “not effective enough”.
During an official visit to Kyoto, where he attended the 14th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Péter Szijjártó said that the coronavirus pandemic had created new global security challenges, which, if left untackled, would generate further problems.
According to MTI, the minister said illegal migration posed a security and cultural threat to Europe and carried a health risk of rapid transmission of Covid-19. Illegal migration is helped by organized crime since migrants “use the services of people smuggling rings often helped by NGOs”, he said.
In regards to drugs, Minister Szijjártó said that “unfortunately, what we see is that Brussels supports not only illegal migration but an increased use of drugs”, adding that “cannabis has recently been reclassified in the UN as an allegedly non-hazardous substance”. The Hungarian government opposed that step and the European Commission in response launched an infringement procedure against the country rather than increase its efforts to cut drug abuse.
Photo credit: Facebook/Szijjártó Péter