migration

Hungary helps communities in 25 states to stay in their homelands

Hungary helps program

Hungary is providing 1.4 billion forints (EUR 3.7m) this year for schemes in 25 countries to help local communities stay in their homelands through the Hungary Helps Programme, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in a video message posted on Facebook on Sunday.

While the war in Ukraine may be front-page news, Szijjártó noted a number of other serious challenges facing the world today, such as epidemics, migration, terrorism and the spread of extreme ideologies, MTI wrote. In a number of places in the world, people have to go about their everyday lives amid serious daily crises, he added. Because the “let’s bring everybody to Europe” strategy has proved unsuccessful in recent years, assistance should instead be given to people where they live, so they can remain in their home countries, he said.

Hungary has helped communities stay in their homelands by developing schools, hospitals and infrastructure in 50 countries around the world so far, he added.

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Illegal migrants almost died in a lorry in Hungary

Lorry migrants almost died

Hungarian police discovered 17 illegal migrants in an unventilated lorry compartment on Thursday afternoon in Kistelek, in southern Hungary, and they called an ambulance, whose medics treated Egyptians and a Libyan, according to the force’s website.

Tipped off by the Romanian authorities, the police searched a Turkish truck and its 34-year-old Turkish driver, and discovered 16 Egyptian men and one Libyan man crammed into the cold, airless goods space. Medics treated the foreigners on the spot. Proceedings have been launched against the people smugglers, MTI wrote.

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Is Hungary at risk of mass emigration?

travel passport documents

The statistics are finally out. According to the latest emigration data released by the Central Statistical Office (KSH), in 2022, around 26,500 Hungarian citizens decided to leave their home country and settle somewhere else.

Such a high amount of emigrees was last recorded five years ago, in 2017. This also means an increase of almost 5000 people in comparison with the numbers of 2021, Portfolio reports.

Emigration on the rise?

But what do these statistics mean in practice? The results show us a reversal to a trend which culminated in the year 2021. Until then, the number of Hungarians returning home from abroad has been steadily on the rise for over a decade. In 2021, the amount of people who came back was even higher than that of those who left. In 2022, this trend reverted – for 26,500 emigrees, KSH recorded only 21,900 returnees.

However, not all is bad. Overall, the gross migration numbers are still positive, due to a record number of foreigners coming to Hungary the same year. According to official data, a whopping 14,000 non-Hungarian citizens made the decision to move here – the highest since 2015.

Hard to track statistics

Before coming to any conclusions, we ought to keep in mind that these numbers might be distorted. International migration is extremely hard to track, and thus the statistics aren’t always completely reliable either. Migration inside the European Union due to relaxed measures is already almost impossible to record properly and efficiently. In addition, KSH emigration statistics include only those, who leave Hungary for at least 12 months. Another problem stems from the gathering of data. They use only numbers provided by government agencies, meaning those who didn’t officially report their departure, are not counted in the results.

Another circumstance which distorts the statistics is a government decision from 2010. This law gave unconditional citizenship to all Hungarians living in bordering nations. This massively increased the official ratio of Hungarians born outside of the country, who decided to “return home”. In 2015, this meant a record amount of 17700 citizens.

But where did they go?

While other European statistics agencies haven’t released their own numbers yet, we can make educated guesses from previously recorded data. According to Eurostat, in 2021, 370,000 Hungarian nationals lived abroad, but inside the borders of the European Union. Most of them can be found in Germany, their number is roughly estimated at around 190,000. Austria takes second place with a little less than 100,000 people. The Netherlands finishes at third place with a bit over 10,000 nationals. The rest are distributed in other member states.

Outside of the EU, another favourite destination is the United Kingdom. Before Brexit, the number of Hungarians living and working inside the UK was estimated to be around 250,000 . This has since decreased to just 170,000 in 2022, probably due to the state’s decision to leave the European Union.

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Hungarian politician: migrants are the reason Lebanon is in crisis

György Hölvényi

In tackling the crisis in Lebanon, the European Union must not ignore the role of churches, which fulfil vital social tasks in the country, György Hölvényi, an MEP of junior ruling party KDNP, told a conference in Brussels on Wednesday.

Hölvényi, who headed the EU mission observing the elections in Lebanon in 2022, noted that parliamentary seats had been divided equally among Christian and Muslim representatives. “This is a token of stability after the bloody civil war” that ravaged the country, he said.

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“The state is mired in corruption, GDP has plunged by 50 percent in the past 4 years, one-third of Lebanese citizens do not have enough to eat and in a country of six million, one million school-age children do not go to school,” he said. Meanwhile, the country is also fending for 1.5 million Syrian refugees, he added.

As the representatives of peace and dialogue, religious communities can play an important role in solving those crises, he said. “And the EU stands by Lebanon as a friend and neighbour,” he said.

Former Lebanese Economy Minister Mansour Bteish also attended the event.

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Official: Hungary under siege because of illegal migration

The pressure of migration remained constant during the winter period, and all arrivals, without exception, reached the borders with the help of people smugglers, the prime minister’s chief domestic security advisor said on Friday.

György Bakondi told public television that large, well-functioning and well-financed criminal gangs were fighting each other to grasp the spoils of people smuggling. This year so far, 24,500 border violators reached Hungary’s borders through the Balkans route, he said. Criminal proceedings have been launched against 230 human smugglers and 2,500 are currently held in Hungarian prisons. They will be expelled from the country once they serve their sentences, he added.

Besides routes through North Macedonia and Serbia, in recent weeks migrant routes through Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia have come to the fore, he said. Bakondi told public radio on Friday that the European Union had barely participated in financing border protection tasks in the past eight years. Despite recent statements about the need to protect external borders and plans to finance the acquisition of certain technical equipment, the EU would still enable masses of people of unknown identity to enter EU territory, and it would be impossible to expel them even if funds were flowing, Bakondi said.

If the proportion of migrants reached 10 percent of the population, serious demographic, social, security, economic and political consequences could be expected, he added. Masses of people in Tunisia and Libya are ready to set off for Europe, only waiting for the smuggling boats to arrive, and nearly five million illegal migrants live in Turkey, a number that may further increase as a result of the recent earthquakes, he said.

FM Szijjártó is afraid of an ‘unmanageable migration crises’

Hungarian foreign minister peace talks UN

Unless the international community takes global challenges around water seriously, the world could face more international conflicts and unmanageable migration crises, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said, addressing the United Nations 2023 Water Conference in New York on Friday.

Humanity is facing its most complex challenges yet with regards to security, the economy and health, Szijjártó told the conference’s plenary session, according to a foreign ministry statement. Many of these challenges pertain to nature, he said, noting that natural disasters were becoming increasingly common and tended to lead to greater food shortages.

Challenges around water deserve special attention, the minister said, noting that they are the cause of around 70 percent of natural disaster-related deaths. Forecasts show that by 2050, three billion people will be living in areas hit by droughts, 1.6 billion in flood-prone areas and 2.2 billion people will not have access to clean drinking water, Szijjártó warned, noting that a daily 1,000 children die worldwide due to drinking polluted water.

“All these alarming facts and data show very clearly that water will be a real security risk in the future,” Szijjártó said, adding that water-related challenges could also trigger armed conflicts as well as mass migration waves. The minister noted the “enormous efforts” Hungary has had to make over the last seven years to protect its borders from illegal migrants “who usually behave very aggressively and show absolutely no respect to our rules and regulations”.

This is also a matter of sovereignty, he said, arguing that no one had the right to violate Hungary’s borders or infringe on Hungarians’ right to decide whom they want to live together with. The dangers of migration can also be seen within the European Union, which, despite the efforts aimed at integrating migrants, has seen the emergence of parallel societies, a rise in the threat of terrorism and a faster spread of viruses, Szijjártó said.

“So migration is a dangerous phenomenon and must be stopped” by tackling the root causes, he said, adding it was clear that water challenges were among the most severe of those causes.

Hungary is ready to do its share in tackling these root causes, Szijjártó said, noting that the country has developed world-class water management technologies. Hungary has recently launched 800 million euros worth of tied-aid schemes and international development programmes based on its water technologies in countries such as Vietnam, Laos, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines, Kenya, Rwanda, Mali, Cape Verde, Ecuador and Kyrgyzstan, he said.

Szijjártó called on the international community to take the challenges around water seriously, underscoring the importance of monitoring countries’ fulfilment of their commitments in line with the UN’s sustainable development goals. If the world does not take the water-related challenges seriously, more international conflicts will break out and millions will migrate, which will lead to unmanageable migration challenges, Szijjártó said.

“It would be much better to avoid that,” Szijjártó said. “Hungary stands ready to contribute.”

Antony Blinken
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Hungary’s security went far beyond protecting its borders

Border hunter Hungary Viktor Orbán

Since illegal migration traces its roots to Africa, Hungary’s defence minister said he had held talks with his counterparts from Kenya and Niger in Brussels with the aim of “protecting the Hungarian people and Europe”.

Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said in a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday that Hungary’s security went far beyond protecting its borders, and he noted “the constant pressure of illegal migration” at the country’s southern borders.

He said this pressure could be traced back to Africa, so it was “highly important to monitor what’s going on in these countries”.

As well as the meeting of EU defence and foreign ministers, a security policy conference is taking place in Brussels, attended by representatives of many African countries, he noted.

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Read alsoThe Hungarian government would further extend the state of emergency

PM Orbán wants to settle 300 thousand migrants in Hungary?

Migration refugee camp EU migration pact

The latest industrialisation plan of the government means the cabinet had to find more than 300 thousand guest workers, a Hungarian news outlet estimated. Before, the Hungarian government conducted a successful campaign against economic migrants, saying that “they could not take the jobs of the Hungarians”.

According to 24.hu, PM Orbán said one week earlier that the Hungarian economy needs 500 thousand more workers to fill vacant positions in the job market. He said he would prefer internal resources in that regard. However, there are not enough Hungarian nationals to do so. That is why more than 70 thousand guest workers worked in Hungary last year. And RTL News think they are the solution for Hungary’s reindustrialisation project.

The Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) regularly measures record-high employment rates. But Orbán said last week that Hungary needs 500 thousand more people in its job market. He added the source for that would be internal reserves, Hungarians living abroad and guest workers, consequently.

Based on a recent analysis of Portfolio, the reserve means unemployed, people having part-time jobs and pensioners. That is 100-150 thousand people, meaning that the remaining 300 thousand must be guest workers, József Hornyák, an expert said.

Orbán’s economic year opening in 2023:

Orbán said guest workers might remain in Hungary only temporarily. But most of them would not want to remain. They aim to go farther West for higher wages, Mr Hornyák highlighted. Hungary has the lowest average wages in the EU, József Nógrádi, commercial director of Trenkwalder Hungary, stated. Guest workers come to Hungary even from exotic places Colombia, Mongolia, and the Philippines.

Defence minister calls for Hungarian-made equipment for army

The government is committed to ensuring Hungarian-made weapons from domestic suppliers to the Hungarian military, the defence minister said on Saturday, adding that meeting that goal was of strategic importance for the country’s security.

Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky visited a shooting range at Táborfalva, in western Hungary, where hand guns and protective gear used by the police and the military were tested, and said on Facebook that the development of “guns, machine guns, light and submachine guns” had started. “You need strength to make peace; we keep working,” the minister said.

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International cooperation needed to combat people smuggling

police

International cooperation is the only way European law enforcement can take effective action against people smugglers, the prime minister’s chief domestic security advisor said on Thursday.

Since people smugglers operate within an international network, EU law enforcement bodies like border agency Frontex would play a key role in coordinating the exchange of information and conducting international operations aimed at eliminating people smuggling rings, György Bakondi told public news channel M1.

But as long as the EU’s migration policy treats migration as a positive phenomenon or something to be supported, the bloc will continue to attract people smuggling rings, he said.

The Hungarian authorities have prevented more than 20,000 people from crossing the border illegally so far this year, and have launched proceedings against more than 200 people smugglers, Bakondi said.

Crime
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Lithuanian people smuggler arrested in Hungary

Migration police Hungary

A Lithuanian national was arrested near Tótkomlós, in southeast Hungary on suspicion of people smuggling after police discovered 37 illegal migrants in his minivan, the official website police.hu said on Friday.

Police tried to stop the minivan for control at 1am on Friday, but the man drove on. He abandoned the vehicle in a field and tried to flee, but was arrested within an hour and a half, police.hu said. Of the 37 people in the minivan, one identified himself as Pakistani and the others said they were Bangladeshi citizens.

Hungary Border Fence Migration Illegal
Read alsoMinister: Hungary protects Europe from illegal migrants

Border hunter ad of the Hungarian police:

Minister: Hungary protects Europe from illegal migrants

Hungary Border Fence Migration Illegal

Bence Rétvári, state secretary at the interior ministry, called for “real and effective” border protection measures to be taken by the European Union, in Brussels on Thursday where he attended a meeting of EU interior ministers.

“Hungary protects Europe against a massive pressure posed by illegal migrants thus protecting the EU’s external borders,” he told Hungarian reporters after the meeting, adding that Brussels “should contribute funds to the EUR 1.6 billion Hungary has so far spent on providing for the community’s security”.

In connection with the war in Ukraine, he underlined that an immediate ceasefire and brokering peace was of primary importance for Hungary. He noted that the SIS II second generation of the Schengen Information System had been launched two days ago. He called the system an important tool in more effectively combatting cross-border crime.

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PM Viktor Orbán names two main threats in Egypt

Orbán Viktor Egypt

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi discussed the war in Ukraine, illegal migration and Hungary-Egypt bilateral relations at a meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, the PM’s press chief said.

The sides said that cooperation between Hungary and Egypt went back to 95 years and it had never been as good as in the past few years, Bertalan Havasi said.

Orbán said after the meeting that Hungary was not in an easy situation, facing several dangers, including the Russia-Ukraine war.

  • Orbán reveals how long the food price and interest rate freeze will remain in Hungary – UPDATE

“Hungary has a vested interest in peace and we will make every effort to reduce the danger of the escalation of war,” he said. “We are ready to engage in disputes with the West because we want a diplomatic solution, ceasefire and peace talks,” he added.

Orbán welcomed the Egyptian president agreeing with the need to move the conflict towards peace instead of escalation.

Orbán said the second source of danger was the forming of blocs in the world instead of connections being built, which he said caused serious losses to Hungary and central Europe.

He expressed thanks to Egypt for its actions concerning migration.

“We do not want homeless migrants torn away from their place of birth to populate the world, but want people to succeed in their place of birth,” he said. “Egypt is a strong bastion in the line of defence against illegal migration,” he added.

“Europe owes thanks, respect and support to Egypt for its work,” he said.

Szijjártó Péter Egypt
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Hungarian governing parties support the extension of the state of emergency

Budapest parliament winter Hungarian flag

Parliament’s defence and law enforcement committee on Monday approved the government’s decision to extend the state of emergency in view of the migration crisis in Hungary.

The committee also supported that the assembly should discuss the protocol on the NATO accession of Sweden and Finland.

Bence Rétvári, state secretary at the interior ministry, told the committee that in 2022 over 270,000 illegal entry attempts had been recorded, far more than in previous years. He also warned that some 3.5 million refugees currently in Turkey were “potential migrants”. He insisted that migrants were increasingly aggressive, adding that last year 477 attacks against border authorities were reported from the Hungary-Serbia border, with shots fired in 104 cases.

The government announced last Tuesday that it would extend the state of emergency until September 7.

Rétvári also slammed the European Union for its “failed” policy of sending migrants back to their homelands, and said a mere 7-15 percent of illegal migrants were sent back to their country of origin. The European Union should contribute to the costs of border protection in Hungary, which amount to 650 billion forints (EUR 1.7bn), he added.

Előd Novák, MP of the opposition Mi Hazánk party, suggested that border guards should be allowed to use their guns “not only out of self defence but also to deter” migrants. Rétvári responded that the government would not change the current rules of weapon use.

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Orbán to ambassadors: 2023 will be the most dangerous year

orbán ambassadors

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán addressed a meeting of Hungary’s ambassadors on Monday in the foreign ministry. He talked about the challenges facing the country in 2023, “the most dangerous year”, the PM’s press chief said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán outlined the challenges of 2023, the most dangerous year, to all of Hungary’s ambassadors at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Monday morning, Bertalan Havasi, head of the Prime Minister’s Press Office, told MTI.

According to the terse statement, the Prime Minister first held a small meeting with foreign minister Péter Szijjártó and the Ministry’s leadership. He then briefed the ambassadors on the tasks for this year, which is marked by war, inflation and the dangers of migration, Népszava writes.

In his annual assessment speech on Saturday, Orbán said that 2023 would be the most dangerous year since the fall of communism. The reasons are the potential drift into the Russian-Ukrainian war and inflation.

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Foreigners are flocking to Hungary: nothing can stop them

Woodworking Employment Unemployment Work Worker employment rate

More than 70,000 foreigners work in Hungary, with more and more people entering the country under easier terms, mainly in industry. This is the official figure, but their numbers are certainly higher and growing. Experts estimate that 500-1000 foreigners arrive in Hungary every month to work. The labour shortage has and will continue to determine the inflow of foreigners.

The KSH (Central Statistical Office) surveyed companies with at least 5 employees. The number of foreign workers employed by Hungarian companies was 50,000 at the beginning of 2019, rising to 60,000 by the end of the year. The withdrawal of the restrictions following the COVID-19 showed a new trend of increase, as there was a shortage of domestic labour workers.

Officially, more than 70,000 foreigners were working in Hungary in the middle of 2022. This represents a 20 percent increase compared to the middle of 2021, which shows that the number of foreign workers in Hungary is steadily increasing.

Nemluxustáska - notaluxurybag Hungarian initiative for helping women in need 1
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Sectors to which workers are flocking

According to portfolio.hu, the companies that hire foreign workers are typically global companies: automotive, food industry, metal industry, plastics and rubber industry and electronics production factories.

The hospitality sector is also seeing an increasing inflow of foreign workers. Filipino employees are becoming more common in tourist places in Budapest, but food delivery workers are also on the rise. Most of them speak good English, are well educated and reliable, and those with fixed contracts keep to their commitment and duration.

But that’s not surprising, since an entire industry has been built on sending workers abroad. If they leave the company they were sent to work for, not only can they be barred from working abroad again, but so can their families. The situation is different for Vietnamese workers, according to József Nógrádi.

“Some of them are already leaving the airport, many of them prefer to work in other countries of the European Union.”

However, Pham Ngoc Chu, managing director of DC Handel Trade and Services Ltd, says that Vietnamese skilled workers who have already undergone vocational training and have already worked meet all the needs. The president of the Vietnamese Entrepreneurs Association in Hungary added that the biggest challenge is not language but culture and lifestyle differences. Where there is a greater demand for imported labour, Asian workers are more welcome. For example, for simple skilled jobs such as fruit picking, packing and cleaning, but also for jobs requiring expertise such as chef, welder and electrician.

As for Mongolian and Indian workers, the main problem is integration. They come with very different religious systems, work cultures and/or social experience. In the case of jobs requiring qualifications, there are significant administrative complications in getting certificates localised. But according to József Nógrádi, there are more and more Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Belarusian workers in Hungary.

There are no more Ukrainian workers

Despite the Russian-Ukrainian war, there are no more Ukrainian workers than before the war. This is partly due to the military conscription of men, and women also tend to move on to Western Europe because of refugee status and higher wages. They have less and less language problems because of advances in technology. In general, far fewer people are coming to Hungary from Ukraine to work than before the war broke out, says Magdolna Mihályi, managing director of Jobtain HR Services Ltd.

Foreign workers can be given a maximum two-year employment contract in the initial period. It is not even recommended for a shorter timeframe because of the costs involved, such as travel, accommodation, medical care, residence and work permits. After the two years, the contract can be extended for two plus one years.

Increasing demand for foreigners

According to József Nógrádi, Trenkwalder’s commercial director, the number of new expats could now be between 500,000 per month. There is an increasing demand for foreign labour from companies operating in Hungary. This is evidenced by the fact that even a few days before Christmas they brought in workers because the demand was so high.

It is therefore likely that a hybrid solution will work in practice for these large investments. Domestic and foreign workers will be both employed to fill the newly opened positions.

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PM Orbán’s warning in Brussels: Europe’s in danger!

Viktor Orbán European Union Brussels migration mixed society chinese loan

As migration pressure on Europe continues to increase, the continent’s future will depend on the protection of its borders, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday, after attending a European Union summit in Brussels.

In a video on Facebook, Orbán said EU leaders had talked until 3am about the issue of migration. Pressure posed by migration is rising and is slowly becoming “unbearable” for the bloc’s western members as well, he said.

Member states agreed that the matter could not be delayed any longer and that they had to face this issue and make it clear that Europe is in danger, the prime minister said, adding that urgent action was needed.

“The only question now is whether bureaucrats sitting in the [European] Commission in Brussels understand that immediate action is needed,” Orbán said. “Legal procedures against Hungary, for example, should be suspended or withdrawn, and member states, including Hungary, should be supported in building fences and strengthening the protection of their borders. This is what Europe’s future depends on.”

Here is the video:

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Hungary and other V4 countries gave a patrol ship to Libya

Libya coast guard ship

Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush received the keys to the first patrol ship funded by the Visegrád Group, designed to curb people smuggling and patrol the Mediterranean shore, in Adria, in Italy, on Tuesday.

Olivér Várhelyi, the European commissioner for neighbourhood policy and enlargement, said the 20 meter ship, able to carry 200 people, was the first to be fully funded by Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The Visegrad Group pledged in 2017 to deliver 4 ships to Libyan border patrol, he said.

Here is his Facebook post:

The ships will help to “curb illegal migration across the sea and to block a route which people smugglers and criminal organisations use to enrich themselves,” he said. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who also attended the event, said Libya was a key starting point for illegal migrants in Europe. The European Union and Italy also support the project in which Libya will have further 2 ships built by year-end and will receive two used ones. Italy has trained Libyan border patrol troops and will oversee the maintenance of the ships.

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President Novák discusses migration, EU membership in Skopje

novák

The issue of illegal migration is being overshadowed by the ongoing war, President Katalin Novák said in Skopje on Monday.

President Novák

Good relations with North Macedonia are crucial to Hungary, Novák told a joint press conference with Stevo Pendarovski, her North Macedonian counterpart. She added that the integration of the Western Balkans was in the interest of all of Europe.

Novák said the most important topic she and Pendarovski had discussed was the ongoing war in Ukraine. She said they both condemned Russian aggression and stood by Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

She added that an urgent ceasefire in Ukraine and a start to peace talks was in Hungary’s and North Macedonia’s shared interest.

Novák also noted that Hungary was punching above its weight in humanitarian assistance, having welcomed over a million refugees from Ukraine since the start of the war.

Another important topic, Novák said, was North Macedonia’s European Union integration, arguing that stability in the Western Balkans was key to Europe’s security and the fight against illegal migration.

She said it was unfair to make North Macedonia wait too long to be granted EU membership, warning that this could undermine the population’s enthusiasm for joining the bloc.

Concerning their talks on the issue of illegal migration, Novák noted that last year more than twice as many migrants had arrived at the EU’s borders via the Western Balkan migrant route as in 2021.

Novák said she and Pendarovski were in agreement that the root causes of migration needed to be addressed in the migrants’ countries of origin and that illegal migration needed to be stopped outside of Europe’s external borders.

She noted that there were 30 Hungarian police officers helping to patrol the North Macedonian-Greek border.

Novák said she had briefed Pendarovski on Hungary’s demographic policy and family support system, adding that they had also reviewed the results of their two countries’ cooperation.

In response to a question about North Macedonia’s EU accession, Novák said it was right to set strict criteria for membership in the bloc. Alluding to the corruption scandal unfolding in Brussels, she added that the EU should set an example when it came to combatting corruption. The president said that if an absence of corruption was a requirement, it should also be required of EU institutions.

In response to another question, Novák said the case of former Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski was ultimately the decision of Hungary’s independent judiciary, adding that nothing overshadowed the two countries’ good relations.

Concerning disputes between Bulgaria and North Macedonia, Novák noted that she had become familiar with the Bulgarian position during her recent visit to Sofia. Hungary is taking no position on the matter, and supports an agreement between the two sides, she added.

President Pendarovski

Pendarovski praised the “excellent relations” between North Macedonia and Hungary. He expressed thanks for Hungary’s continued support of his country’s aim to join the EU, as well as its support for North Macedonia’s chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

He said North Macedonia’s EU accession was also in Hungary’s strategic interest, adding that his country was aiming to learn from the experiences of the Visegrad Group.

Pendarovski hailed the development of bilateral economic ties, noting that Hungary was among North Macedonia’s top ten trading partners. He also expressed thanks for Hungary granting scholarships to 20 North Macedonian university students each year as part of the Stipendium Hungaricum programme.

Both heads of state expressed their sympathies to those affected by the earthquake that hit southeast Turkiye and northern Syria early on Monday.

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