Parties discuss Hungary position ahead of EU-Turkey summit

Budapest, November 28 (MTI) – All efforts must be made to encourage the European Union to change its immigration policy and its position on the migrant quota system, Fidesz parliamentary group leader Lajos Kosa said on Saturday.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s EU-Turkey summit to be held in Brussels, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban attending, Kosa told public news channel M1 that Orban met the leaders of parliamentary party groups earlier in the day to brief them about the position he would represent at the summit. The draft agreement between the EU and Turkey implies that more illegal immigrants could be arriving in Europe. At talks with the group leaders, which the Socialists did not attend, it was agreed that receiving more migrants was unacceptable, Kosa said. He added that the EU had put itself in a corner where it is susceptible to Turkey’s requests whereas it should have aimed at creating a unified position before talks with Ankara. Fidesz’s position is unchanged: the EU must protect its external borders, if not on the Greek-Turkish border then in Bulgaria and Macedonia, he added.

Bertalan Havasi, the prime minister’s press chief, said all parliamentary party leaders had agreed that an agreement in Brussels was desirable in which the earlier decisions of the Hungarian parliament are observed, as well as European and Hungarian interests.

Andras Schiffer, co-leader of the opposition LMP party, told a press conference on Saturday that an “infinite wave of immigration” should not be invited to Europe. He said however that the European Union and Hungary had humanitarian obligations in respect to people fleeing war or terror. He said at the summit the views must be expressed that Europe’s capacities are not limitless and that there were security interests in the community as a whole and in individual members states as well. Orban would be representing such a position, he said.

EU authorities must be able to distinguish between “real refugees”, economic immigrants and potential terrorists and this is why deeper cooperation on internal security has been suggested. LMP wants the EU to support Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan so that these countries can provide adequate services to war refugees. The summit must also establish Turkey’s responsibility in that there has been no success in cutting off the Islamic State’s supply routes, Schiffer said.

Photo: MTI

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