Visegrád Four

EU Summit – Orbán: Hungary not to become immigrant country

The Visegrad Group succeeded in getting its proposal accepted at the current European Union summit and Hungary will not become an immigrant country, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a video message posted on his Facebook page early on Friday.

There was a threat that migrants from refugee camps would be distributed among European countries, Orbán said.

“We have managed to thwart this proposal and have our proposal accepted,” he added.

The Visegrad proposal clearly stated that nobody can be transferred from refugee camps to another country without the latter’s consent, he added.

As a result, Hungary will not become an immigrant country. It will remain a country of Hungarians, Orbán said.

A two-day EU summit started in Brussels on Thursday where

European Union heads of state and government are focussing on the common migrant and refugee policies, the EU’s next financial framework as well as economic and trade issues.

[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/majority-in-cee-countries-against-migration-survey/” type=”big” color=”pink” newwindow=”yes”] MAJORITY IN CEE COUNTRIES AGAINST MIGRATION – SURVEY[/button]

Donald Tusk

European Council President Donald Tusk has said in a tweet that EU leaders reached an agreement on a joint statement closing their talks on Thursday that included the issue of handling migration.

According to the statement, centres for the relocation and resettlement of migrants would be set up on a voluntary basis within the EU.

Socialists

Gábor Harangozó, a board member of the opposition Socialists, said on Friday that the agreement reached on Thursday indicated the European countries’ will to make joint efforts for handling the migrant issue rather than acting individually, on the national level. This approach, he said, goes against Viktor Orbán’s policy.

“This is a major success for Europe,… which, I strongly believe, is at the same time a defeat for Viktor Orbán,” Harangozó told reporters.

LMP

Green LMP’s deputy group leader Márta Demeter told a press conference that the summit took important decisions “but relatively small steps, compared to the weight of the problem”. She welcomed that participants had reached agreements in certain areas, Demeter said, and added that

the closing agreement of the summit is another proof that quotas are not on the agenda.

Photo: MTI/EPA/Nicolas Lambert

June 29, 2018

EU Summit – Orbán: People ‘all over Europe’ want borders protected

People across the European Union are looking to their governments to protect the bloc’s borders and prevent migrants from entering, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a video published on Facebook on Thursday.

“People want two things, and not just in Hungary, not just in central Europe, not just in Italy, not just in Austria, but I daresay all over Europe. They want us to protect the borders to not allow migrants in, and thereby protect the security of our people,” Orbán said in the video.

People want their governments to conduct procedures for migrants already in Europe and “take them home”,

Orbán said. European democracy “is in trouble” because its leaders have been unwilling to do so, he added.

In his video published before the start of the summit, Orbán said he expected sharp debates during the two-day meeting. He said it was possible participants would come to consensus on Thursday evening concerning the introduction of full protection of the bloc’s external borders and setting up refugee camps outside them.

He said those two moves would not resolve the problem but would constitute a significant step forward.

Orbán noted he had met Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for bilateral talks and had convened representatives of the Visegrad countries and met French President Emmanuel Macron.

Orbán: Hungary’s standpoint on migration ‘clear’

Hungary’s standpoint on migration is unambiguous but the government is open to negotiations, the Hungarian representation in Brussels said.

The statement said

Germany had asked the Hungarian government to enter into bilateral negotiations over the issue, adding that the Hungarian government was ready to do so.

Photo: MTI

June 28, 2018

Concerts, street festival to close out Visegrád Four cultural season

The chain of cultural events celebrating Hungary’s V4 presidency will wrap up with concerts and a street festival at Várkert Bazár and the Palace of Arts (Müpa) in Budapest on Saturday, the Hungarian Tourist Agency has said.

During its fifth tenure as V4 president, which is to be taken over by Slovakia on July 1, Hungary launched a series of cultural events with a view to strengthening ties among the member states, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and itself, the agency said.

Performers at Várkert Bazár will include violinist Luca Kézdy, Polish orchestra Kapela Brodow, Evelin Tóth and the Ewiva band and the Hola Polska band, which plays music from all over the world from Polish swing to South American music, the statement said.

The events will wrap up with a street festival in the evening.

In front of the Palace of Arts, singer Bori Rutkai and the Ethnosound and the Bujdosó Trio bands will perform before the Funeral Marsching Band and Grammy Award winner Slovak flutist Sisa Michalidesova. The closing event will be an operetta gala in Müpa’s Bartók Hall.

Other events will include tastings of the V4 countries’ emblematic foods and screenings of famous Czech and Polish films.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/Várkert-Bazár

June 26, 2018

Visegrád interior ministers meet in Budapest

Interior ministers of the four Visegrád countries — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia — and their Austrian counterpart met for talks in Budapest on Tuesday.

After the talks, Hungary’s Sándor Pintér called the Visegrád group “pioneers” and said that more and more countries were now following their policies. He insisted that the four states saw eye to eye in all areas, and added that Hungary’s presidency in the past one year had been successful.

Over the past year, the V4 made significant strides in protecting Hungary’s border and also helped other countries, he said. And now there is a chance to provide help to Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina, he added.

Pintér also underlined the importance of eliminating human smuggling.

He reassured his Slovak colleague that Slovakia would have Hungary’s full backing during its own V4 presidency over the next 12 months.

Pintér asked his Austrian counterpart to fight to achieve the goals of the central European countries during its upcoming European Union rotating presidency. The aim is to have all member states on the same page on the issues of migration, border protection and open internal borders, he said.

Joachim Brudzinski, the Polish interior minister, said that the group had had a distinct position since the beginning of the migration crisis, and added that “they have clearly proven right”.

Denisa Sakova of Slovakia said that her country, which is the next rotating president of the V4, seeks to continue “Hungary’s successful efforts” and to “effectively promote the group’s position in the EU”.

Austria’s Peter Goldgruber said the aim of the upcoming Austrian EU presidency was to bring the EU closer to its citizens. One aspect of this is the protection of the bloc’s external borders, he said, arguing that Europeans were right to expect their leaders to cooperate effectively on border protection.

Juraj Chmiel, the Czech Republic’s ambassador to Hungary, suggested that the solution to Europe’s migration crisis lay in strengthening the EU’s external borders and providing help in migrants’ countries of origin.

Featured image: MTI

June 26, 2018

Foreign minister: Central Europe EU’s most successful region

Central Europe is the European Union’s most successful region today, Hungary’s foreign minister said in London on Monday.

Péter Szijjártó, in an address at an introductory forum of the Visegrád Group’s stock exchange leaders at the London Stock Exchange, said the V4 countries of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia provided the baseline for central Europe’s economic performance.

It is no longer a stretch to say that central Europe, and specifically the V4 alliance, is becoming the EU’s engine of growth, Szijjártó said.

He noted that bilateral trade turnover between Germany and the V4 last year exceeded German-French annual trade turnover by 65 percent.

This clearly demonstrates that Europe’s economic axis and source of competitiveness has shifted from western Europe to central Europe, the minister said.

He noted that GDP in the Visegrád Group grew by 4.1 percent on average last year, well over the 2.4 percent rate for the EU as a whole.

“Comparing the two figures makes it clear why we dare say that we have become the engine of growth in Europe,” Szijjártó said.

He said the total number of employed in the V4 countries last year was 30 million, while the average unemployment rate was 5 percent.

The average public debt-GDP ratio was 52 percent, compared with the EU average of 82 percent, he added. The minister said this was clear evidence of the fiscal discipline exercised across the four countries.

All this, along with the annual 10 percent growth in exports shows how competitive central Europe is as a region, Szijjártó said.

With its low, single-rate personal income tax and Europe’s only single-digit corporate tax rate, Hungary has seen a radical rise in investments, he said.

On the topic of Brexit, Szijjártó said Hungary had no interest in inserting itself into the debate about a soft Brexit or a hard one. Hungary believes in the need for a fair Brexit deal coupled with the deepest and most comprehensive EU-UK free trade agreement possible, he added.

Featured image: MTI

June 25, 2018

Orbán: Visegrád Group’s success behind ‘Brussels attacks’

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Slovak commercial television TA3 on Sunday that the reason why he was being targeted by Brussels was because he stands firmly by the policies of the Hungarian government and the Visegrád Group, which he said were more successful than those of western Europe.

“Some of the criticisms are levelled at me not because of Hungary, but because of the V4,” Orbán said in a discussion with his Slovak counterpart Peter Pellegrini. “They’re attacking us because we’re successful. Let’s not forget that there’s also competition within the European Union,” the prime minister added.

“There are some who are hurt by central Europe’s rapid progress.”

Orbán said the V4 would have to withstand the pressure coming from Brussels, while western Europe should accept that the V4 are currently the engine of the EU economy without whom the bloc would not be experiencing any economic growth.

Pellegrini said that time had vindicated the V4’s solutions to the issue of migration. Western Europe “is also finally starting to wake up and is adopting parts of the V4 positions”, he said.

Orbán and Pellegrini underlined the importance of protecting the EU’s external Schengen borders.

The two leaders were also in agreement that reinstating internal border controls was not the way forward for Europe. Orbán reassured Bratislava of Hungary’s support for the former’s request towards Austria that it review its decision to introduce checks at the Jarovce-Kittsee (Horvátjárfalu-Kittsee) road border crossing.

Orbán and Pellegrini also agreed that it was up to member states, rather than Brussels, to decide whom they let in.

The heads of government branded as “unacceptable” an EU plan to tie funding for member states to their admission of migrants. Orbán said EU funds were not a “one-way street”, arguing that western countries “benefit even more from central Europe’s economic achievements”.

On the topic of Hungary’s “Stop Soros” package of laws passed earlier this week, Orbán said it was designed to protect Hungary’s interests.

Pellegrini said Slovakia was also in need of imposing stricter controls on NGOs and improving their financial transparency.

The Slovak PM praised Hungary’s V4 presidency of the past year, which it will take over on July 1.

Both leaders described their countries’ relations as “trouble-free”.

Featured image: MTI

June 24, 2018

Migration, EU budget in focus at V4-Austria speakers’ meeting

The issue of migration and the next European Union budget were in the focus of talks at a meeting of parliamentary speakers from the Visegrad Group and Austria on Friday.

Hungary’s László Kövér told MTI after the meeting in Balatonfüred, western Hungary, that the participants confirmed their position that the security of nations needs to be strengthened in connection with migration and it is necessary to set up hot spots outside EU borders where refugees and economic migrants can be identified.

The V4 countries of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia consider the EU budget draft for 2021-2027 “substandard even for a starting point of further talks”,

Kövér said. It has a disadvantageous effect on central Europe and involves an over 20 percent cut in resources for the V4, he added.

The southern and western member countries that enjoy advantages in line with the new EU budget obviously face difficulties but they are also responsible for the situation that has developed, Kövér said. The budget draft represents a “punitive measure based on political bias by the European Commission” and

the V4 countries will protest against it and consider it unacceptable in the current form, he added.

The participants at the meeting said it is a welcome development that “similar views can be heard from Berlin concerning migration as those voiced by the Visegrad countries for the past several years now,” he said.

President of the Austrian National Council Wolfgang Sobotka presented at the meeting the policies that the upcoming presidency of the EU will follow, also mentioning the issue of democratic control over public media, Köver said.

Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic Andrej Danko presented the plans of his country which will fulfil the next presidency.

Photo: MTI

June 22, 2018

Orbán: Authorities have everything needed to protect Hungary – Interview

Hungary’s government and parliament have all the tools they need to protect the country from migration, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday.

In his regular interview to public Kossuth Radio, Orbán said that Hungary still needed a well-equipped military irrespective of the migration issue.

If Hungary faced an armed threat today, its military would only have a limited capability to counter it, the prime minister argued.

Orbán called the “Stop Soros” package of laws and related constitutional amendments approved by parliament this week “nice, sophisticated pieces of legal work”. He said it would be “very difficult” for anyone to find fault in a parliamentary decision that had been supported by 80-90 percent of lawmakers.

Orbán noted that both decisions had been among the campaign promises of the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat parties in the runup to this April’s general election.

The new constitutional amendment declares Hungary’s national sovereignty “unbreakable”, defines the country’s constitutional identity and the penal code makes illegal migration and support for it punishable criminal offences, the prime minister noted.

He said there was “nothing wrong” with civil groups wanting to exercise political influence in Hungary, adding, however, that they had a duty to declare any foreign funding they receive. But when it comes to migration, which he said Hungary considered a national security issue, the government does not accept NGOs wanting to influence policymakers, Orbán added.

As regards the European debate on migration, the prime minister said there were three main questions on the EU’s agenda: border protection, the future of migrants already in Europe and the question of who should be allowed to enter the bloc moving forward and where authorities should separate genuine refugees and economic migrants. The central European countries believe this last issue should be dealt with outside the EU’s borders, he added.

Orbáunion said there were three sides within the EU with varying views on migration. One is the Visegrad Group comprising Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, now “joined by” Austria and Italy. The second is Germany, which has its own internal disagreements on the issue and the third are northern member states which Orbán said were locked in their own heated debates.

The prime minister also touched on Thursday’s V4-Austria summit, saying that the V4 alliance had never been as strong as it is now. “In fact, we are the engine of Europe’s economy,” he said. And on migration, the V4 have always said that Europe should provide help to others “without destroying ourselves”, he added. “Time has shown that this approach was the right one.”

In connection with the Budapest visit of the European Council president on Friday, Orbán said Donald Tusk had “reached out to us” after the European Commission decided to convene an EU “mini-summit” on migration for Sunday in Brussels.

But since the council president is the only one with the authority to convene a high-level meeting of EU heads of state and government this whole affair shows that EU institutions operate improperly, Orbán said, adding that his talks with Tusk would most certainly address this issue.

As regards next week’s EU summit, Orbán said its main focus would be on migration, adding that he would welcome if issues on which there is consensus among member states featured high on the agenda.

Concerning debates surrounding his ruling Fidesz party’s membership in the European People’s Party (EPP), Orbán said having such debates “is just normal”, adding that Hungary’s interest lay in a strong, united EPP.

Asked whether Hungary’s 2019 budget should be redrafted in light of fresh inflation outlook data, Orbán said the answer is a “definite no”, adding that the outlook for higher inflation did not justify any correction.

He explained that

global oil prices are among the biggest factors affecting Hungary’s CPI at present, and the budget can’t be planned based on such a “volatile” factor.

A range for inflation has to be determined and the budget should be based on the median of that range; that provides stability, he added.

Orbán noted that pension increases are already linked to inflation, providing those Hungarians especially sensitive to price changes additional security.

He reiterated that the 2019 budget bill contains significantly higher reserves because of “signs of crisis looming on the horizon”, citing the risk of rising interest rates, trade wars and high rates of public debt among some EU member states.

Photo: MTI

June 22, 2018

V4-plus-Austria summit: Europe must be able to protect its own borders, says Orbán

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Thursday said the Visegrad Group and Austria agreed that the European Union must be in a position to protect its external borders against migrants and ensure security for its citizens.

At a joint international press conference after the V4-plus-Austria summit, Orbán said ties between members of the EU should be “characterised by cooperation rather than confrontation”.

Migration should be handled “with a focus on issues on which consensus can be reached”,

he said. Border protection and setting up refugee camps outside the EU were two such areas, Orbán added.

The prime minister said there was “no point in pushing issues” such as quotas when there is no agreement on them.

Orbán said Thursday’s meeting was “special” because migration, the EU budget, and cooperation in central Europe were on the agenda. The Austrian chancellor, present at the summit, had a “crucial role” in those areas, he added.

Orbán noted that the summit was also an event that marked the end of Hungary’s V4 presidency, which is to be taken over by Slovakia.

Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian chancellor, was invited to present his plans for Austria’s European Union presidency in the next six months, Orbán said. He said that

Austria’s opinion was crucial for Hungary, Austria being the country’s most important business partner.

The success of the Austrian presidency is in Hungary’s interest, he added. “We trust that the EU will be a stronger, fairer and more secure community than it is now after Austria’s presidency.”

At the meeting, matters in which there is no agreement with Austria were also broached, Orbán said, mentioning nuclear energy and Austria’s family benefit system as examples.

The prime minister said the talks between “five serious countries” confirmed his conviction that central Europe “is not just a part of the EU”. “In light of its culture, the skills and courage of its leaders, hopefully the region does not take away from Europe’s strength but adds to it.”

“We are looking forward to Europe rising, and the Slovak V4 presidency and Austria’s EU presidency will be part of that process,” Orbán said.

Orbán also announced that European Council head Donald Tusk will visit Hungary on Friday.

European Council President Donald Tusk is scheduled to visit Hungary on Friday, Orbán noted. On the topic of an informal European Union “mini-summit” on migration scheduled for Sunday in Brussels, Orbán said the V4 comprising Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia will skip the meeting because they believed EU leadership summits on migration should be organised by the European Council rather than the commission, as Sunday’s will be.

“We understand that countries deal with internal political challenges, but this mustn’t result in pan-European hastiness, because that only breeds chaos,” Orbán said.

The V4 believe it is not the commission’s job to organise EU leadership summits; this is the job of the president of the European Council, he said. The prime minister pointed out that Tusk has called a summit for next Thursday, noting that the issue of migration will be one of the topics on the agenda.

In light of this, the V4 will be absent from Sunday’s mini-summit, Orbán said, adding that the four countries will present their views at next Thursday’s meeting instead.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that during its upcoming EU presidency,

Austria would focus on improving the wellbeing of European citizens and cooperation among member states.

He said Austria would concentrate primarily on security and defence policy and work to create a Europe that protects its citizens.

The Austrian presidency will also devote special attention to the fight against illegal migration,

Kurz added. The chancellor said Austria wanted the emphasis in Europe to shift from the debate on the redistribution of migrants among member states to the protection of the bloc’s external borders.

Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said protection of the EU’s external borders was crucial, and added that the security in the region could not be guaranteed otherwise. He also demanded that funds in the EU’s next budget should be re-allocated.

Czech PM Andrej Babis welcomed Austria taking over the EU’s presidency in July, and noted that the Visegrad group and Austria saw eye to eye on migration issues.

Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish head of government, voiced hope that the Visegrad countries would succeed in convincing the rest of the EU concerning cohesion funding and direct farm subsidies.

Photo: MTI

June 22, 2018

Hungarian foreign minister: EU can only be built on strong nation-states

The European Union can only be built on the foundation of strong nation-states, the Hungarian foreign minister said in Stockholm on Tuesday.

“The European Union’s report card hasn’t been the best in recent years,” Péter Szijjártó told a press conference following a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Visegrád Group (V4) and the Nordic Baltic Eight (NB8).

He noted that V4 and NB8 foreign ministers were meeting at a time when the EU was about to lose one of its member states for the first time. Transatlantic relations “are also languishing, although they are unbreakable”, Szijjártó said.

In addition to all this, he said, the EU is facing “serious challenges” while it is quickly losing competitiveness.

The V4 offer Europe “common sense policies” that promote low taxes coupled with a disciplined fiscal policy, Szijjártó said. But, he added, the most important task before the bloc was guaranteeing the safety of its citizens.

Szijjártó underscored the V4’s beliefs in free trade, adding that they also support the EU’s enlargement, especially towards the Western Balkans.

Referring to next year’s European Parliamentary elections, the minister said the “most important decision” on the future of Europe would have to be made by the European people.

Meanwhile, asked whether the Hungarian parliament would vote on the government’s “Stop Soros” bill on Wednesday without waiting for the opinion of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission due out on Friday, Szijjártó said: “Yes, there will be a voting session tomorrow, and our parliamentary group will vote in favour of the proposal.”

The Venice Commission has asked Hungary not to pass the bill before it releases its opinion on it, or to at least consider the recommendations it has made in its draft opinion.

Featured image: MTI

June 19, 2018

Minister calls planned EU farm budget cuts ‘unacceptable’

The European Commission’s plans for the 2021-2027 budget, which would cut major funding for agriculture and rural development, are “unacceptable” István Nagy, Hungary’s farm minister, said after a meeting with EU counterparts in Luxembourg late on Monday.

Hungary calls on the commission to submit a budget that maintains the current level of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) spending, he said, adding that reduced resources would hit Hungarian farmers facing extra administrative burdens under new EU rules.

A reduction of production-related subsidies will badly affect Hungary, he said. Maintaining the 13 plus 2 percent support is essential for maintaining competitiveness, Nagy added.

Hungary wants yield growth, sustainable agriculture and the right responses to issues concerning animal and plant health, he said.

The Visegrád Group, the Baltic states, as well as Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria, take a common stand in order to respond to market challenges as a competitive region, the minister said.

June 19, 2018

Visegrád Group, Israel sign innovation Memorandum of Understanding

Pixabay

June 19, 2018

Hungarian government wants to spend EUR 12.5bn bn on road, rail developments by 2022

The government will spend 4,000 billion forints (EUR 12.5bn) on developing public roads and railways by 2022 in order to strengthen Hungary’s position in logistics, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday.

Some 900 kilometres of high-speed roads will be built from 2,500 billion forints,

55 percent of which will be paid from the central budget and 45 percent from European Union funds, he told an event organised by the Hungarian Export-Import Bank and the Hungarian Export Credit Insurance Company (Exim).

A total of 1,500 billion forints will be spent on rail developments which will involve modernising 900 kms of tracks, he added.

The developments will extend the length of Hungary’s electrified rail network to 3,300 kms, the minister said.

Szijjártó noted ongoing and completed developments, including the electrification of a railway link between Budapest and Slovenia’s Koper. A new bridge on the River Danube at Komárom is already under construction and it will be suitable for freight transport from the first quarter of 2022, he said. Five new border crossings will be built in cooperation with the Slovak government and the EU funding won for this development will also enable building two bridges on the River Ipoly.

Preparations have been made at Rajka to expand a road linking Budapest and Bratislava (Pozsony) to two lanes each way, Szijjártó said.

He said that during talks in Beijing last week, an agreement was signed about the final timetable for the modernisation of the Budapest-Belgrade railway link. As we wrote, the Budapest-Belgrade high-speed railway line must be completed by the end of 2023 at the latest”, Szijjártó, who was on a three-day official visit to China, said. Read more HERE.

He also said that the prime ministers of the Visegrad Four Group have agreed to prepare the development of a high-speed rail link between Budapest, Bratislava, Brno and Warsaw. The Hungarian government has approved 1.5 billion forints for the feasibility study of this project, he added.

An agreement has been signed with the Romanian government about a high-speed rail link between Budapest and Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár).

The Hungarian government has approved 1 billion forints for the feasibility study, he said.

June 15, 2018

Slovakia, Hungary continue building good relations

Slovakia Hungary Prime Minister cooperation

The Slovak government plans to continue building good relations with Hungary because that is in the interest of Slovakia’s citizens, its economy and the region, Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said in Parliament on Tuesday after meeting his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán.

Viktor Orbán described his talks with Slovak counterpart Peter Pellegrini on Tuesday as a “meeting of two successful countries in a successful region”.

Slovak-Hungarian cooperation and the Visegrád Group partnership contribute to the success of a common Europe, Orbán told a joint press conference in Parliament after the meeting. The V4 is no longer an alliance of poor countries but composed of countries whose economies are characterised by “dynamism, financial discipline and great plans”, he added.

Orbán expressed thanks to Pellegrini for Slovakia’s help in border protection and for Bratislava standing in support of Hungary “in the midst of a great international storm”.

Commenting on bilateral relations, he said that after linking the gas pipelines of the two countries, work has now started to connect their electricity grids.

The Visegrád Group has managed to keep its unity, stood up for national values and fought back outside pressure, he said at a joint press conference with Orbán. Slovakia, the next to take up the rotating presidency of the group comprising Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, will base its presidency on that unity, Pellegrini said.

The V4 countries have made many difficult decisions and their economies are booming, so they have every right to make proposals to the EU on policy issues instead of merely observing them passively, Pellegrini said.

Hungary had an important role as the president of the V4 group last year, Pellegrini said. The group has faced “many trials” and helped each other efficiently, he said. Its stance on migration has turned out to be correct and the approach “they wanted to impose on us from western Europe does not work,” he said.

The V4’s stance is unified and unchanging on migration, an issue Slovakia intends to focus on during its Visegrád presidency, Pellegrini said. No one should be allowed to strip the V4 countries of their right to decide who they let enter, he said.

The mandatory quota system has failed, and paying in lieu of accepting migrants is “impossible”, Pellegrini said, adding that the protection of the outer borders is also a form of solidarity.

Commenting on the issue of the rescue ship Aquarius, which was denied port in Italy and Malta with over 600 migrants on board, Pellegrini said that “we should say no” to the EU funding an expensive rescue system so that “those who travel by water can automatically count on being rescued and taken to the EU.” The course of action regarding those coming to Europe should be clearly defined, he said. Italy and Malta’s not accepting the ship was “only the beginning”, Pellegrini said, stressing the need to strengthen the EU’s external borders.

Featured image: MTI

June 12, 2018

B9 supporting ‘Open Doors’ to Western Balkans in NATO, says Hungarian president

Presidents of the Bucharest Nine group support the policy of “Open Doors” in NATO in terms of helping countries in the Western Balkans join the organisation, Hungarian President János Áder said on Friday.

Speaking after a meeting of the group in Warsaw, Áder said that

participants had unanimously agreed with plans of NATO’s expansion in the Western Balkan region.

Áder urged that the region should be integrated as soon as possible, and highlighted its significance for security. Integrating the region will “serve Europe’s peace, calm and security”, the president said, but added that “on the other hand, it is also a risk factor”. He said that in the enlargement process each applicant country’s meeting entry criteria would be assessed separately.

The B9 group consists of presidents of the Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia), the Baltic states, as well as Romania and Bulgaria.

Áder said that participants had discussed ways to increase NATO’s budget and enhance security in member states. He said that only eight out of the 29 members have increased their defence spending to reach 2 percent of their GDP, as required by NATO, while 12 countries have not even come up with a timetable to do so. Hungary, however, has a timetable which envisages that defence spending should reach 2 percent of GDP by 2024, Áder said.

Higher defence spending will safeguard the country’s security and help improve defence capabilities in light of the “increased terrorist threat and expected higher migration pressure”, the president said. Participants in the meeting called those two factors “realistic”, which NATO must take seriously and tackle in the near future, Áder said.

Photo: MTI

June 9, 2018

Orbán: Population transfer in Europe serves speculators

Population transfer is underway in Europe, partly to help speculators like US financier George Soros make money by “destroying” the continent, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday.

It is necessary to openly fight Soros and his “army” and to establish that they want immigration and their ideological motivation is a multicultural Europe, Orban told public Kossuth Radio.

“They do not like the traditions of Christian Europe and they believe that if they mix us with other peoples, then Europe will be more liveable,” he added.

“They want to destroy Europe because they expect large profits; that’s just the nature of financial speculators,” he said.

However, “we do not want to be mixed with others,” Orbán said.

“We are fine the way we are now”, as regards to Christianity, the language, culture and way of life, as well as the freedom of religion and the approach to family and relations between men and women, Orbán said.

Next year’s European Parliamentary elections will concern these issues and the conflict of values, he added.

Commenting on a planned constitutional amendment submitted to parliament, he said that considering the required two-thirds majority support is granted, there is no room for hesitation “at times like this”. All forces must be mobilised to protect the country which is why the amendment prohibits the forced settlement of foreign nationals to Hungary. Additionally, in line with a planned amendment proposal to the criminal code, organising illegal migration will be a criminal act, Orbán said.

He welcomed recent developments in European politics, saying that “some tough boys have appeared in European politics.”

“We are gentle and mild mannered compared to the new leaders who have now opened their mouths,” he said, citing Austria and Italy as examples.

The Italians have said they want to put a stop to migration and instead of distributing illegal migrants, such migrants must be removed from Europe, Orbán said. The Visegrad Group had previously offered billions of forints to the government in Rome to promote this plan, he added.

In response to a question concerning the possibility of renewed migration pressure on the Balkans, he said that Hungary as the gate to the Balkans has a vested interest in making sure that “things progress well”. As a result, Serbia will continue to be considered a strategic country and Macedonia will be equally important, he added.

“We can indeed see signs … of the flow approaching” which will be a challenge and even though Hungary has “managed to prevent migrants coming this way, our neighbours are not protected and they need to be helped,” he said.

On another subject, the prime minister described next year’s draft budget as a “robust and earthquake proof” one that will ensure secure growth. As regards the deficit target of 1.8 percent of GDP, Orbán said the budget will be a balanced one in the sense that operating expenditures and revenue will balance out, with “investments in the future” creating the deficit.

Orbán warned that although it was possible that an economic crisis may be coming over the next few years,

he did not want the government to have to implement austerity measures. This requires a disciplined handling of the economy, he said.

He said a global economic crisis could be triggered by rising interest rates, high levels of indebtedness, especially among eurozone members, and the impact of possible trade wars.

“It’s not raining yet…but clouds are in the sky,” Orbán said. The increased budget reserves are an “umbrella”, he added.

But all of this will not deter the cabinet from pursuing its goals of safeguarding Hungary’s security, promoting growth, reducing unemployment and supporting families with children, he said.

The prime minister also said the government was planning a larger-scale constitutional amendment.

The government expects to begin a 12 to 18-month-long assessment of the constitution in September “to determine what has worked or could have worked and highlight the areas that could have been regulated by the fundamental law but the subsidiary laws were not in line with,” Orbán said.

Further, the review will aim to pinpoint regulatory gaps which will need to be bridged by new constitutional text, the prime minister said.

Photo: MTI/EPA/A. Carrasco Ragel

June 8, 2018

Hungary officials hold talks with EU Brexit negotiator

The European Union must respect Britain’s desire for autonomy, but the UK must also respect the unity of the bloc, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said at talks with members of parliament’s foreign affairs and European affairs committees on Monday.

Barnier said Britain and the EU still had many questions to settle in the divorce talks, the most important being the issues of the common market, the EU budget, EU citizens living in the UK and British citizens living in other EU countries.

The EU does not intend to take “revenge” on Britain when it comes to the EU budget, he said, adding, at the same time, that the country would have to be held accountable when it leaves the bloc.

Barnier said that following Britain’s departure, EU-UK relations could rest on four pillars: trade, internal and external security and special agreements.

As regards a potential trade deal, he said the EU could consider an agreement similar to the ones it has with Canada and China.

Barnier also touched on the situation of Northern Ireland, noting that the EU wants it to stay within the customs union.

He emphasised the importance of keeping the divorce talks transparent so that all EU countries have a clear understanding of the situation, noting that they will all have to ratify Britain’s exit.

Zsolt Németh, the (Fidesz) head of the foreign affairs committee, underlined the need for a “fair Brexit” and expressed his confidence in Barnier’s ability to strike such a deal. He said it was vital that Hungarians living in Britain do not become casualties of Brexit and are not forced to return to Hungary. Németh assured Barnier of Hungary and the Visegrád Group’s support in the Brexit negotiations.

Tibor Bana, the (Jobbik) deputy head of the European affairs committee, also stressed the importance of protecting the interests of Hungarians living in the UK and asked Barnier to continue to keep Hungary updated on the Brexit talks.

Previously that day, Viktor Orbán and Barnier concluded that the EU has managed to preserve its unity during the divorce talks with Britain, Bertalan Havasi told MTI.

The prime minister assured Barnier that Hungary — along with the other central European countries — would continue to support and assist with the preservation of the bloc’s unity.

Featured image: MTI

June 4, 2018

Hungary complies with all EU requirements

Visegrad Group countries “have nothing to fear” when it comes to the rule of law, and several audits in the past few years show that Hungary complies with all EU requirements, an official of the prime minister’s office told a press conference on Thursday in Brussels.

The European Commission has proposed steps to protect the European Union‘s budget from financial risks resulting from member states’ failure to observe the rule of law.

At a press conference on the 2021-2027 EU budget, Szabolcs Takács, the state secretary for EU affairs, said that Hungary and the other countries in the Visegrad Group were ready for talks if the mechanism proposed by the European Commission complied with the EU’s basic treaties and if the measures applied to all countries equally. But the V4 countries reject the application of double standards on this issue, Takács said.

Takács said it was important to make a considered decision in light of the current imbalances in the area of payments into the system. “It would be unfortunate if a concept arose whereby central and eastern European countries proportionally pay more into the EU budget while their cohesion and farm funding is cut,” he said.

It is in the interest of all member states that the budget gets to the point of being approved only when a proposal is made that is good for all member states and the European Union, too, he said, adding that the budget should rise to new challenges and ensure that the EU is safe, competitive and dynamic. The Visegrad Group is open to talks on allocating funds for new challenges and is ready to assess new proposals. But the V4 countries will not agree to the transferral of national governments’ decision-making powers to the EU, he said.

May 25, 2018