Orban: Hungarian diplomacy successful in EU-Turkey talks

Brussels, March 18 (MTI) – Hungary’s diplomatic efforts were successful in achieving the country’s goals regarding the migration deal between the European Union and Turkey, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Brussels on Friday.

“We averted the biggest threat,” Orbán told a press conference after a two-day EU summit on migration, referring to a proposal by the European Commission that would have obligated EU member states to take in refugees. Under the deal agreed to on Friday, the resettlement of migrants in EU member states will be carried out on a voluntary basis.

Orbán noted that the Visegrad Four countries had been against the mandatory redistribution of migrants since the start of the crisis.

Concerning the agreement to provide financial aid to Turkey to help refugees, Orbán stressed that Hungary will not make any commitment that would put “unbearable” financial burdens on the country.

Referring to a preliminary agreement reached in Brussels, Orbán called it another success of Hungarian diplomacy that Ukraine will get a visa-free status before Turkey.

Orbán said the biggest political achievement of the past six months in Europe was the western Balkan countries’ decision to protect their own borders and thwart illegal crossings over the so-called green border before the deal with Turkey was signed.

The prime minister added, however, that the agreement with Turkey was needed because the stoppage of the migrant flow on the Greek-Macedonian and Greek-Bulgarian borders has made things worse in Greece.

Europe must now prevent further deepening of the migration crisis in Greece, Orbán said. In the absence of EU-wide cooperation in managing the crisis, the bloc may even “lose Greece” as a stable member state, he said.

Commenting on the EU-Turkey deal, the opposition Jobbik party said that the agreement was “not a breakthrough”. In a statement, Jobbik deputy leader Dániel Z Kárpát criticised the ruling parties’ “lenience” toward the voluntary quota mechanism, and said that a voluntary system would lead to a mandatory regime, and eventually to “having Europe flooded by an alien culture”. Jobbik has also called on the government to retain its plans to hold a referendum against the quota “or any of its mutations”.

The Hungarian Liberal Party welcomed the agreement, but added that “the actual solution” was not imminent. The refugee crisis will only be resolved when the war in Syria is over, and the situation in that region is settled under international control, it said in a statement.

Photo: MTI

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