Greece made no attempt to protect EU borders, says state secretary

Berlin (MTI) – The country whose European solidarity should be questioned is not any of the Visegrad Four (V4) but Greece, because it made no attempt to stem the flow of migrants across its borders and protect the European Union, foreign ministry state secretary Gergely Prőhle told German regional public broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg’s Inforadio on Monday.

When asked why the V4 grouping of Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic opposes the EU’s refugee quotas, Prőhle said it is not just the V4 countries, but also France that is against the relocation scheme, indicating that not even the older EU member states see eye-to-eye on the matter.

The state secretary said there were historical reasons for the absence of Muslim communities in the V4 countries, meaning it would be difficult to relocate groups of people whose cultures differ significantly from that of the local population to these countries.

Prőhle emphasised that the V4 countries oppose the quota system because they believe that “it is simply not a good idea”.

He said the V4s had been calling for the strengthening of the EU’s borders since the beginning of the migrant crisis, noting that Hungary put forward a plan for financing the EU’s border protection as early as half a year ago. Prőhle said it was a “shame” that it took other countries, including Germany, “much longer” to realise the importance of protecting the EU’s borders.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters