FM: Hungary to quit UN talks if draft stays ‘pro-migration’

Hungary will start proceedings to quit talks in the United Nations on the UN’s migration package unless “there is a positive shift, towards Hungary’s position”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday.

The government has instructed the foreign minister to review the first draft of the package, to be published on February 5, and start the procedure to quit the talks if the document is “as pro-migration” as the 2016 declaration and the UN secretary-general’s recent statement which served as its basis, Szijjártó said.

The minister insisted that the package is scheduled to be adopted at the end of this year, and the inter-governmental negotiations have not even started but the secretary-general “has already announced the result”.

Szijjártó also insisted that the “plan” of US financier George Soros concerning migration did exist “as a clear concept” and “there seems a parallel” with the UN chief’s recent statement.

The foreign minister said that both the stance of the UN declaration and of the secretary-general’s statement were in conflict with Hungary’s position and interests because they suggested that “migration is good and unavoidable”.