Hungary's foreign minister has said that Frans Timmermans should resign from his post after having accused Hungary’s prime minister and the country’s government of anti-Semitism.
Péter Szijjártó, minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, rejected the first vice-president of the European Commission's accusation, calling it unfair and unacceptable, stressing that Hungary “has done more than anyone in Europe to combat anti-Semitism”.
“We introduced the National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Holocaust, have renovated synagogues not just in Hungary, but also in neighboring countries, and have made Holocaust denial a punishable offense according to the new Penal Code. Hungary’s new Constitution, which has been placed on new foundations, guarantees the security of Hungarian Jews as part of the Hungarian nation, and the Hungarian Jewish Community can always count on the respect, friendship and protection of the Hungarian government," he said, also adding that “we have introduced a policy of zero tolerance with regard to anti-Semitism”.
According to the minister, the accusation made by Frans Timmermans is also an extreme insult to Hungary, “and if an EU official gravely insults a Member State on such an issue, then he can have no choice but to resign from office”.
Szijjártó called the EC Vice-President a coward, stating the “strong and furthermore unfounded accusation” published in an interview with German liberal weekly Die Zeit was not made face-to-face to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, but only later, when nobody could respond to it immediately.
In the interview, in reaction to suggestions that the prime minister was “clearly anti-Semitic” in view of his calling George Soros a financial speculator in the European Parliament a few days ago, the European Commission’s first vice-president for Fundamental Rights said that was exactly how he had understood the prime minister’s words and was outraged, but did not react to the comment during the debate.
"The competitiveness of the European Union has without a doubt fallen in recent years”, and who have thus far been incapable of providing any solutions to the challenges we face. Timmermans “would like to flood Europe and the European Union with illegal immigrants”, when in fact those who support illegal immigration “are endangering Europe, and within it Hungary”, which the Hungarian government will not accept no matter what pressure it is put under.