National sovereignty at stake with EU migrant quota system, says interior minister
Budapest, January 5 (MTI) – Hungary’s national sovereignty and identity is at stake when it comes to the EU’s mandatory migrant distribution quota system, the interior minister said on Tuesday.
“We face the charge that we have not shown solidarity. But our solidarity is exemplary: we have dispatched police units to help efforts in Slovenia, Macedonia and Serbia and voiced solidarity with countries wanting to protect their borders,” Sandor Pinter said in Esztergom, in northern Hungary, addressing a commemoration.
Hungary has implemented measures to protect the country and the rest of Europe by fully abiding by EU laws, Pinter said, adding that the majority of Hungarians asked in a national consultation stated support for the government’s migration policy.
Pinter was addressing a commemoration held in the city for St. Thomas Becket, the martyred Archbishop of Canterbury.
Ties between Esztergom and Canterbury go back to the 12th century, when Thomas Becket and Hungary’s Lukacs Banfi, who would become the Archbishop of Esztergom, formed a friendship during their studies in Paris.
Due to illness, Laszlo Kover, speaker of Hungary’s parliament, could not attend the event but sent a letter which was read to participants by the local bishop, Laszlo Kiss-Rigo.
“The key to Europe’s future lies in demography and identity: that is the consideration whether, driven by our Christian morals, we respect birth and family as sacred values,” Kover said in the letter.
He said the key to Europe’s future was “whether we are able to preserve the identity of our communities, maintain our ideal of European and national values as well as maintaining our ability to press our interests.”
Kover said the crisis of Europe now has created a chance for a change, the possibility for “designing a new vision for Europe resting on thousand-year-old solid foundations.”
The commemoration began with an ecumenical service held in a chapel standing on a hill named after St. Thomas Becket.
It was Hungary’s Cardinal Laszlo Lekai who organised th
Photo: MTI
Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters
