German government now consistent in opposing illegal migration, says Hungarian minister in Berlin

The German government is now consistent in its opposition to illegal migration, Gergely Gulyás, head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said after talks with German Chancellery Minister Helge Braun in Berlin on Wednesday.

Speaking to public media, Gulyás said Braun had confirmed in their talks that “anyone defending Europe’s external borders is a friend of Germany”.

The Hungarian government is in favour of taking action against all forms of illegal migration, “and even the German government holds a consistent stance on this now”, he added.

Berlin now says that members of the Schengen zone must fulfil their obligations of protecting the bloc’s external borders, Gulyás said. This means that though Hungary’s position on illegal migration has not changed, the two countries have moved closer on the issue, the PM’s Office chief said, adding that Hungary’s measures aimed at stopping illegal migration also protect Germany.

On the topic of bilateral political ties, Gulyás said that

in recent years they had changed “at least as much as Germany’s position on the issue of migration has”. Looking at the various positions of the country’s co-ruling Christian Democratic Union, “in a lot of areas, we see the same priorities that we’ve been talking about for three years,” he said.