Election 2018 – Foreign Minister: Election hands government ‘huge mandate’

The outcome of Sunday’s election, which has given the government “a huge mandate”, also entails “huge responsibility and clearly defined tasks”, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, told commercial broadcaster TV2 on Tuesday.

Hungary will have to fight several “hard battles” over the next months, one of which is the debate to be held in Brussels concerning EU migrant quotas in June, he said.

The election victory has massively empowered the Hungarian government to protect “the security of Hungarians”.

Concerning the direction of Hungary’s foreign policy, Szijjártó said migration would continue to top the agenda of international debates.

Also, reinforced by Sunday’s vote, the government will double down on efforts to compete for further investments, he said.

Commenting on the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s criticism that the electoral process and the ruling parties’ excessive resources undermined competition on an level playing field, Szijjártó said the OSCE had neither the possibility nor the remit to scrutinise an election campaign from a political point of view.

“What’s important is that a decision was taken by the Hungarian people, and not by the OSCE or the UN, and they granted the government a clear mandate,” Szijjártó said.

Concerning international reaction to the election’s outcome, Szijjártó noted that besides the congratulations sent by several prominent leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, congratulatory messages by the Czech prime minister and the Greek foreign minister had been among the first to arrive. He noted that congratulations were sent by Serbia’s Socialist energy minister, Slovakia’s Social Democrat economy minister, Montenegro’s socialist government’s foreign minister, as well as by the former Polish and Norwegian foreign ministers.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI