Foreign minister: Hungary expects EU to reciprocate Cape Verde’s cooperation on migration

Hungary asks the European Union to reciprocate Cape Verde’s openness to cooperation on migration policy, as it is the only African country that has signed an agreement on the readmission of migrants with the EU, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said after talks with Cape Verde officials on Friday.

“Given that the source of the migration pressure on Europe from the south is the spread of armed conflict in Africa and the poverty gripping the continent, it is not a stretch to say that the EU’s security today depends greatly on Africa,” Szijjártó told MTI by phone.

This is why it is so important for the EU to have partners on the continent that are willing to cooperate with it in curbing migration, the minister said.

Hungary urges the EU to provide Cape Verde with the help it needs to protect its borders, Szijjártó said.

This way it would become clear to other African countries that the EU will support those states that cooperate with it in helping to restore its security, he argued.

After talks with Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva, as well as with the economy and culture ministers, Szijjártó said that his negotiating partners “understand and support” the Hungarian government’s migration policy and its efforts to protect Christian communities in conflict-stricken countries.

Szijjártó also met his counterpart Luis Filipe Tavares, the education minister, and Cape Verde’s House speaker.

Source: MTI