Terrorism, migrant crisis should be handled separately, say left-wing parties

Budapest (MTI) – Hungary’s left-wing parties believe that terrorism and the migrant crisis represent great challenges to the country but the two issues should be handled separately and solutions sought in keeping with the constitution, the deputy head of parliament’s national security committee, said on Monday.

Zsolt Molnár, of the opposition Socialist Party, said that he had invited representatives of green opposition LMP, the Democratic Coalition, Együtt, the PM party and the Hungarian Liberal Party to the talks. All parties except LMP were represented at Monday’s meeting, he added.

The participants confirmed that they found a ruling Fidesz proposal to amend the constitution in connection with the threat of terrorism unacceptable. They insisted the ruling parties had refused to discuss the merits of the case and were unwilling to compromise.

Lajos Kósa, the Fidesz group leader, criticised the left-wing parties for not supporting the proposal, saying those who refuse to support the government’s proposal are those who withheld their support for building the fence at the country’s border and tightening asylum rules. They did not support sending police army units to protect the border, either, he said in a statement.

Migrants are more important to them than Hungarians, whereas for Fidesz “the safety of Hungarian people comes first,” said Kósa, adding that the governing party would stick to its proposal to introduce stricter terrorism-related laws. These require a constitutional amendment and a two-thirds majority to pass.

Photo: MTI

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