The EU poses danger, Kyrgyzstan ‘source of security’ in migration, says Hungarian foreign minister

The European Union’s pro-migration policies pose a danger while Bishkek’s fight against terrorism means security for Europe, the foreign minister said in Bishkek on Thursday.

Europe cannot rely on the EU concerning migration

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Jeenbek Kulubayev, Péter Szijjártó said both countries were paying the price of conflicts they were not responsible for. Hungary and Kyrgyzstan were members of the “global pro-peace majority” urging an immediate ceasefire and peace talks in the war in Ukraine, he said, according to a ministry statement.

Szijjártó praised Kyrgyz efforts in the fight against terrorism, and said the global terror threat was “larger than ever” due to the opportunities illegal migration offered to potentials attackers.

He said the EU’s pro-migration policy was encouraging immigrants to start their journey towards the continent, and terrorists “take advantage of the flood of people”. Hungary “sees all countries that prioritise the fight against terrorism the way Kyrgyzstan does as an ally”, he said.

While holding the European Union’s rotating presidency, Hungary is also supporting the start of negotiations with Kyrgyzstan on easing visa requirements and on signing an enhanced partnership and cooperation agreement.

Szijjártó said that EU officials’ criticism levelled at Kyrgyzstan alleging circumventing sanctions against Russia was “wholly unfounded”.

Hungary, Kyrgyzstan links between the East and West

“Hungary sees EU sanctions as harmful, dangerous and absolutely useless, harming member states more than Russia,” he said. “EU leaders are clearly not prepared to recognise that [sanctions] were a bad decision, and they prefer to accuse others, Kyrgyzstan among them.”

Hungary would always support Kyrgyzstan in working as a link between the East and West, Szijjártó said. Hungary believes every country has the sovereign right to root out external interference and influence targeting the will of the people, he added.

Meanwhile, he said Central Asia’s economic importance was growing, especially in transport and energy security.

He welcomed that trade between Hungary and Kyrgyzstan has doubled.

Hungarian companies are gaining ground in Kyrgyzstan in health industries, food and agriculture, and there is a joint development fund financing joint ventures in agriculture and vehicle manufacturing, the minister said. He said he hoped that the joint project planning to build water plants would also be successful.

Hungary is also offering 200 grants to Kyrgyz students wishing to study in Hungary, he said.

Hungary begins talks with EC on CJEU’s migration policy ruling

Hungary will not pay the fine imposed on it by the Court of Justice of the European Union, but has entered into talks in an attempt to resolve the situation, János Bóka, the European affairs minister, said after a meeting of the European Parliament’s constitutional committee (AFCO) in Strasbourg on Thursday. Speaking to Hungarian reporters in connection with a 200 million euro fine and a daily 1 million euro penalty Hungary has been ordered to pay by the CJEU for failing to comply with the EU’s asylum regulations, Bóka said Hungary has started talks on the matter with Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson.

The minister said he had made it clear at their talks that Hungary will not pay the fine.

“We agreed on the communication channels we’ll be using to discuss the implementation of the ruling going forward,” he said. “We’ve outlined a schedule according to which the talks will continue.”

Hungary, Bóka added, aimed to resolve the matter and have the daily 1 million euro penalty lifted.

Hungary’s position on the implementation of the ruling derived from the political will expressed in a referendum, National Consultation surveys and elections. “This is a very firm and clear mandate for us,” the minister said. “It is along this mandate that we have to continue the talks with the European Commission.”

Commenting on the AFCO meeting held on the sidelines of a plenary session of the European Parliament, Bóka said he had presented the priorities of the Hungarian EU presidency and briefed the committee’s members on the progress that was expected during the Hungarian presidency in the matters that fall under their respective areas of competence. Most of the questions he had received, however, had to do with the internal political situation in Hungary “and were open political attacks against Hungary and the Hungarian people”, he said.

Regarding comments made at the hearing by German Green MEP Daniel Freund about Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visits to Moscow and Beijing this past summer being a violation of EU rules, Bóka said the European public needed to be made aware that the MEP’s remarks “do not correspond to reality”.

Hungary is seeking an exemption from the application of EU asylum and migration rules since, otherwise, “Brussels would also turn Hungary into a country of immigrants”, the parliamentary state secretary of the EU affairs ministry said on Thursday.

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