Hungarian President calls for spending more on Europe’s defence

Hungarian President János Áder called for increasing spending on European security and border defence, at a meeting of the Arraiolos group in Athens on Friday.

The Arraiolos group, a forum for European presidents without executive power, held its 15th meeting with presidents of Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia attending.

In his speech, Áder stressed the need to take more effective measures against human smugglers, including their imprisonment. He stressed the need to return the ships carrying economic migrants, reach agreements with the North African states on setting up refugee camps, and intensify cooperation between secret services.

He said the European countries would be able to adopt a common position on all these issues.

Áder said that the water crisis, hitting several south European, African and Asian states, goes together with, and is a logical consequence of, climate change.

“This is a crisis which should be tackled in any case if we want to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and remedy the consequences of climate change,” he said.

Áder called for international cooperation in preventing further soil degradation in Asia and Africa, promoting more modern irrigation technologies, supporting afforestation and plant improvement, and enhancing food security. He stressed the need to assist the countries concerned in sewage treatment, water management and urbanisation as well.

Source: MTI