Hungarian foreign minister: ‘Still threat’ of EU migrant quotas, constitutional amendment needed

Budapest, November 6 (MTI) – The “threat” of European Union migrant quotas “has not gone away” and the issue again will be on the agenda of a meeting of the European Council on Dec. 20-21, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in a public radio interview on Sunday. “This is why amending the constitution is important,” he said.

The government continues to insist that “there cannot be binding quotas”, the minister said. The EU will experience a “massive struggle if they try to force this down our throats at any price,” he said, adding that “the country should be defended” by amending the fundamental law.

“It will become apparent on November 8 who and who doesn’t want to defend Hungary,” he said.

Szijjártó said that certain organisations condemned Hungary because the government had sought the opinion of ordinary Hungarians in a plebiscite concerning an issue “that will fundamentally determine” the future of Hungary and the EU. “There isn’t a more democratic tool than a referendum, but it is not democratic that certain international organisations try to interfere in Hungary’s internal political business,” Szijjártó said.

At the same time, the Netherlands held a plebiscite on the free-trade agreement between Ukraine and the EU and “they had no problem with that”, he said.

There is much hypocrisy in Europe, the minister insisted. “Talking about Hungary, they say a referendum was used to block a common European cause … but the deliberate ruination of Europe is not a common cause,” he said.

Szijjártó said that a “serious campaign of lies” had been launched against Hungary in the past few years, and accusations against the country were based on lies. All this must be rejected in the strongest terms, he added.

On the subject of Hungary’s newly acquired seat on the UN Human Rights Council, he said its achievement was unparalleled, and an opinion ought to be given on this feat instead.

Szijjártó said that Hungary had not sealed off its border and it was possible to get into the country by respecting the regulations. Rather, the country has closed off its “green border”, which is the external Schengen border, he said. No one can expect Hungary to “look at the country’s borders idly and thereby violate its sovereignty,” the minister insisted.

Source: MTI