The Minister issued a statement in reaction to a Wednesday interview in German news portal Spiegel Online with President of the European Parliament Martin Schultz, who said “more and more states and heads of government are seeing the error in the statements by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán that the refugee issue is a purely German problem” and the refugee crisis “cannot be solved by a fence”.
Martin Schultz stressed the importance of European solidarity “in the countries of Eastern Europe and everywhere else”. With relation to Mr. Schultz’s statements, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said: “Martin Schultz has clearly decided not to deal with reality; it would seem that his Brussels office it too far away from the countries of the migration route”. If the EP President were to concern himself with the facts, he would see that what he is saying is the exact opposite of the truth. More and more countries are recognising the fact that Hungary’s is the only viable solution to the issue of illegal immigration, he explained. Mr. Szijjártó went on to stress that Hungary is protecting its own borders and the external borders of the Schengen Area; it is through this that it has undertaken solidarity, because “not a single illegal immigrant is arriving in Germany or Sweden or Austria via Hungary”. Hungary has always argued that we must assist those in need in the crisis regions themselves, he stated.
Mr. Szijjártó also reacted to statements by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in the Wednesday issue of Czech daily Právo, according to which reducing the level of European Union funding provided to the four countries of the Visegrád Group is a realistic subject of debate if they continue to refuse to accept refugees. “This is in no way a threat, as someone called it, but an absolutely open and realistic thing to consider”, Mr. Renzi said, adding that EU membership “is about undertaking joint values and mutual solidarity”.
With regard to Mr. Renzi’s statements, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said that the Italian Prime Minister “has steered himself into a labyrinth of errors”. He called on Mr Renzi “not to want those who are properly complying with joint regulations to foot the bill just because he has taken the wrong path”. Hungary is complying with EU regulations and protecting Europe’s borders, “unlike Italy”, the Foreign Minister pointed out, adding that cohesion funding is something to which Hungary is due. Every third forint of European Union funding that arrives in Hungary is a Hungarian taxpayer’s forint that we have paid to the EU, in addition to which we have opened up our markets thanks to which Western companies are realising huge profits in Hungary; according to several studies, “Western European enterprises take home 1.25 euros from Central European states for every euro paid out by Western European countries”, Mr. Szijjártó said.