House speaker: Hungary’s EU membership ‘vital’

The opposition has missed the point with its rhetoric on “defending” Hungary’s EU membership against the policies of the governing parties, the parliamentary speaker said in an interview published by business weekly Figyelő on Thursday.

László Kövér said that the government had never argued in favour of Hungary leaving the European Union.

It is vital for Hungary as an EU member that there are no internal borders within the bloc which allows the free movement of people to neighbouring EU member states with ethnic Hungarian communities. Further, in the short term, Hungary needs the EU funds required for it to catch up with mainstream Europe, he told the paper.

Concerning the ongoing case in the European Court of Justice brought by Hungary and Slovakia against the EU’s mandatory migrant quota system, Kövér expressed hope that the decision expected in the autumn would not be politically motivated but standing solely on legal grounds.