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FM: Pandemic and migration "make up a vicious circle"

Péter Szijjártó said the world was about to face further waves of illegal migration.

The foreign minister said the coronavirus epidemic and migration "make up a vicious circle" because "the more countries are hit by the virus the more people will set off and the more people leave their home the greater the risk of a spreading pandemic is."
 
On the sidelines of a meeting of his EU counterparts in Luxembourg, Péter Szijjártó said the world was about to face further waves of illegal migration since “all trends recently triggering migration waves have further strengthened”. “We have a single task: to protect our citizens from the perils of further migration waves, and we must use every tool to stop migratory trends,” he said.

The minister said that the economic impact of the pandemic will contribute to a growing migration, adding that NATO’s pulling out of Afghanistan and the resulting increase in terrorism activities as well as “Brussels’s pro-migration policy” could also lead to another wave. “It is clear that nothing is enough for Brussels to convince its bureaucrats that migration poses serious risks,” he said.

Minister Szijjártó said it was an urgent task “to convince Brussels to drop their pro-migration policy” and ensure that security in Afghanistan does not deteriorate. With regard to migration routes from Afghanistan to Europe, he said that a “new and strong deal with Turkey” aimed at stemming migration was an urgent priority.