The foreign minister has revealed that Hungary is quitting the approval process of the United Nations Global Compact on Migration.
Péter Szijjártó, minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, broke the news on Wednesday following a cabinet meeting on the matter.
“For us, the number one priority is Hungary and the security of Hungarians,” he said.
The minister said the document goes completely against the security interests of the country. The government’s position is that the UN Global Compact on Migration goes against common sense and efforts to restore security in Europe, he added.
The minister described it as “an extremist and biased” document that encourages migration. It is based on the presumption that migration is an unavoidable phenomenon, he added.
Minister Szijjártó said the Hungarian government rejects that presumption and considers migration as a “bad trend” that raises “extremely serious security risks”.
The minister added that “the majority of UN member states are a generator of migration trends” and insisted this was why the document described migration “as a fundamental human right,” which is in conflict with international law.
He added that the document “overlooks the truly existing fundamental human right of other people who want nothing other than to live in peace and security in their own homeland”.
Minister Szijjártó said that the compact stipulates that every migrant is entitled to the same services as local citizens, would be provided with training and would have fast-track access to legal remedy against the decisions of local authorities.
During talks on the package “it was stressed all along that it would not be legally binding”. However, in the end it stipulates that each country should create a national program of its own to implement the package, the minister said.