Orban meets Macedonian counterpart in Budapest

Budapest, November 20 (MTI) – The European Union’s founding treaty should be reconsidered, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said after meeting Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski on Friday.

The prime minister said European should face up to the fact that migrants come from areas involved in military conflict with EU members. “We are considered enemies in those countries, and the acts of terror committed in our areas are considered war successes over there”, he said, adding that “allowing people into our own back yard” who may then commit acts of terrorism was irresponsible.

The EU should protect its borders, culture, economic interests and its democracy, Orban said.

“The founding treaty is currently an obstacle to this and I believe it needs to be reconsidered,” Orban said.

In order to make Europe effective, basic questions need to be reevaluated, he added. It is increasingly obvious that the EU is capable only of responding to crises rather than taking preventive measures. Citing the Paris terror attacks, he said it was only afterwards that European politicians started assigning security its proper role.

Orban said it was the British who first pushed the issue in connection with the EU’s founding treaty, and they want to make changes to European regulations that will be impossible without amending them.

In response to a query about whether he considered the Schengen system dead, similarly to the Dublin agreement, he said “Dublin is dead, Schengen is alive”. An increasing number of EU countries neglect the Dublin agreement but everybody is trying to uphold Schengen because if it fails then “walls and fences will rise and border controls will be put in place between countries where they have not been used.” The possibility of free travel between Schengen members needs to be maintained, and this is only possible if external Schengen borders are protected, he added.

“One should either be a Schengen member and protect its borders or if they do not protect the borders, they should not be a Schengen member,” Orban said.

Orban told Gruevski that all EU members and candidates are expected to possess the capabilities to protect their borders and assured him that Hungary was prepared to provide help in border protection, including with technical, financial and human resources. Contacts have been named to maintain relations, including the interior minister in Hungary.

Orban confirmed that Hungary backs Macedonia’s bid to join the European Union and NATO. Disputes should not get in the way of what is a European interest, he said in reference to the Greece-Macedonia dispute. Hungary believes every country’s performance should be assessed on its merits. He described Macedonia as a well-prepared country that the EU needs.

It is Hungary’s strategic interest that every country located between Hungary and Greece should be an EU and NATO member, he said. Currently, there is a “gaping hole” between Hungary and Greece, he added.

Orban praised Gruevski’s efforts made towards Macedonia’s “gradual stabilisation”, adding that the EU can consider it the most stable country in the Balkans.

He expressed hope that an upcoming meeting of the Hungarian-Macedonian mixed economic committee would give a boost to economic cooperation.

Photo: MTI

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