V4 countries to help Lithuania halt migrants, says Hungarian minister ?

The Visegrad Group countries, which oppose the mandatory resettlement quotas and Brussels’ immigration policy, have agreed to help Lithuania contain the wave of refugees from Belarus, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, said after talks with his V4 counterparts on Monday.

The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia will specify the details in the days to come and coordinate the various forms of aid to Lithuania, including human resources, technical equipment and erecting a fence along the border, Szijjártó told a press conference in front of the town hall of Komarom in northern Hungary.

“The Visegrad countries will jointly help their Lithuanian friends defend the external borders of the European Union,” he said.

Szijjártó said

the Hungarian presidency of the Visegrad Group gave priority to boosting quick economic recovery in the whole region.

As tax rises would not help the economy restart, Hungary continues to oppose the introduction of the global minimum tax, he said.

Praising the four countries for the fiscal and financial discipline, Szijjártó said that

“those who are unable to conduct disciplined policies should not impose higher taxes stemming from their incorrect fiscal policies on us.”

The minister said that Hungary’s trade with its three Visegrad partners amounted to 30 billion euros last year. He added that the three countries concerned accounted for 15 percent of Hungary’s trade turnover in 2020 and the first four months of this year.

Asked about press reports suggesting that an Israeli spy software had been used in Hungary to collect information on opposition politicians and journalists, Szijjártó said

the Information Office under his control had never used the software in question and had not entered any kind of cooperation in connection with it.