At the informal meeting, the EU interior ministers discussed the future schedule for talks on the reform of the Common European Asylum System, with particular emphasis on the proposal for the reform of the Dublin Regulation. In its speech,

Hungary stressed that the goal of the European Union must be to stop the flow of migration and that the prevention of illegal migration must already begin in countries of origin and transit countries.

Joint EU migration policy efforts must serve this goal. It is important from Hungary’s perspective that the wording of key legislative proposals of this nature, such as the reform of the Dublin system, should only occur once a political agreements has been reached. The European Commission has made it clear that the main aims with relation to the reform of the Dublin system must be developed based on consensus.

The interior ministers discussed the Global Compact for migration within the framework of a working lunch. Hungary is consistently against the issuing of statement that could be construed as encouragement for people who are not satisfied with their live to being flowing into Europe. According to our standpoint, it is the sovereign right of every single country to decide who it will allow into its territory. Based on the experience of preparatory processes, the UN is not paying enough attention to the need to handle the causes of irregular migration, or to the obligations of source countries.

The ministers also discussed efforts to facilitate the realisation of the Integrated Border Management System.

Hungary stressed that it is protecting the EU’s external borders based on the EU norms currently in force. It is the task of every EU member state to protect the external borders of the European Union and to make them impermeable in accordance with the regulations that are currently in force. However, based on the experiences of the migration crisis, cooperation with source and transit countries must receive priority attention during the practical realisation of the Integrated Border Management System.

Photo: MTI/EPA/Miguel Paquet