Foreign minister: A strong Visegrád voice is also in the EU’s interests

“The appearance of a ‘strong Visegrád voice’ in the debate on the future of Europe is also in the interests of the EU”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said.

At the official opening of the Századvég Summer University, the Minister stressed: “We must make our voice heard in the debate on the future of Europe, particularly in the interests of making the EU competitive within the global economy, restoring the security of the European people, preserving our Christian culture and European identity, engaging in a fair and open debate on the next seven-year budget, protecting European democracy and enabling the enlargement of the European Union”.

With relation to competitiveness, Mr. Szijjártó said plans to introduce tax harmonisation in the European Union are unacceptable.

On the subject of security, he stressed that the shift in the position of Western Europe must also appear in the form of action. Concerning European democracy, the Minister spoke about the fact that attempting to rapidly close the debate on important issues prior to the European Parliament elections is an anti-democratic approach.

“The EU is facing historic challenges of a fundamentally security nature”, the Foreign Minister said. “At the same time, values that were previous regarded as unshakeable are currently under attack in Europe, values that used to represent the foundations of the European social and economic system”, he explained.

Mr. Szijjártó said that in his opinion an extremely lively debate has developed on the future of Europe, and although the existence of the debate itself is not bad news, the fact that the debate came almost immediately to rest on emotional foundations and everyone who does not speak according to the expectations of the European mainstream is stigmatised is bad news.

“This calls into question whether the debate can in fact have a rational conclusion”, he added.