Visegrad Four unified despite attempts to divide it, says Hungarian FM in Tallinn

The Visegrad Four has remained unified despite various attempts to divide it on issues such as migration, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday. 

He said the group’s unity was reaffirmed at an informal meeting of foreign ministers in Tallinn.

“We will continue to reject illegal migration and to fight against mandatory settlement quotas,” he told MTI by phone.

“We will not let them force impose on us a failed and dangerous decision regarding the mandatory settlement quota,” he added.

Szijjártó said there was a “sneaky deception” in connection with the quota. “They are trying to lay the blame for the complete failure of the relocation scheme on countries that were open about their rejection of it from the very beginning. Countries of the Visegrad Group belong in this latter category,” he said.

The foreign minister also had bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Tallinn event, meeting his Lithuanian counterpart Linas Linkevicius. The two officials agreed that Hungary-Lithuania relations were “exemplary” and that Lithuania greatly valued Hungary’s regular demonstration of solidarity with the Baltic countries, he said.

Fully 130 Hungarian soldiers are stationed in the Baltics, and from 2019 Hungary will once again participate in NATO air defence missions in Baltic airspace.

Photo: MTI

The two countries cooperate closely in the United Nations, and Lithuania supports Hungary’s bid to become a member of the body’s Human Rights Council. In return, Hungary backs Lithuania’s candidacy, he said.

Both countries have an interest in ensuring that Brexit talks lead to a comprehensive and fair agreement between the UK and the EU, Szijjártó said.

The two ministers signed a bilateral agreement on the mutual protection of classified information, with the aim of further enhancing security cooperation between the two countries.

Source: MTI