Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the situation in Afghanistan is threatening to trigger a new wave of illegal mass migration.
The foreign minister spoke at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, within the framework of the 76th UN General Assembly, and said “the foreign ministers of European Union countries do not seem to have grasped the full scope of the danger yet", adding that the “worse scenario” seems to be prevailing in Afghanistan. The economy is sinking into a crisis, a growing number of Afghans are in need of humanitarian aid, and the terror threat is growing, he said. All those factors point to a growing threat of illegal migration, Minister Szijjártó said.
Meanwhile, Minister Szijjártó said European leaders continue to issue statements that “Afghans can interpret as an invitation”. Several member states “even want to organize resettlement forums,” he added. “The events six years ago have shown us that the next step will be mandatory quotas, with some talk about family reunification already. Unfortunately, most EU states have not learnt from what happened in Europe in 2015 and has been happening since,” he said. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s neighbors have made it clear that Afghanistan’s problems should be solved locally, he said.