Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office accuses EC of hypocrisy on migration

Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, on Thursday accused the European Commission of hypocrisy on the issue of illegal migration, saying it had failed to sanction member states that had fallen foul of their duty to protect the EU’s external borders.

Asked in an interview with the Friends of Hungary Foundation’s Ungarn Heute blog about the EC’s rejection of the charge that it had taken away member states’ power to formulate migration policies, Gulyás said the commission was “not practising what it preaches”.

So far, there have been no consequences for a member state breaching its obligation to protect the bloc’s external borders, he said, adding that the EC was also trying to push through a migrant distribution quota scheme “benefitting people applying for asylum instead of refugees”.

Meanwhile, asked about ruling Fidesz’s dispute with the European People’s Party over its membership in the centre-right grouping, Gulyas said the question of potentially quitting the EPP would not be on Fidesz’s agenda until after the European Parliament elections.

“We don’t want to skirt anything,” Gulyás said. “If they’re not happy to have us somewhere, then we don’t want to stay.”

The PM’s Office chief added, however, that as long as Fidesz was a member of the EPP, it would not look for a new political family, only new allies.

He said Fidesz’s past successes were independent of the EPP or any other political grouping. “It is, however, a fact that today the grouping’s most successful and strongest party is Fidesz,” Gulyás added. He said this meant that the EPP needed Fidesz more than Fidesz needed the EPP.

Gulyás said that out of solidarity with the EPP, Fidesz preferred not to discuss its disagreements with its political family in the middle of the EP election campaign.

Source: MTI