Hungarian minister said what is needed to protect Europe’s future

Radical changes are needed in Brussels’ migration policy in order to protect Europe’s future, international law should be respected and those that act in line with it must not be punished, the foreign minister said in Madrid on Tuesday.

The ministry cited Péter Szijjártó saying after talks with Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares that Madrid would help Budapest in several areas under the arrangement of the current presidency trio of the Council of the European Union made up of Spain, Belgium and Hungary.

Szijjártó said Europe was currently facing some very serious challenges, such as illegal migration. Last year, the number of migrants arriving in Spain went up by 82 percent on 2022. At the same time, pressure was also increasing in Hungary, with 170,000 illegal border crossing attempts thwarted by the authorities last year, he added.

“Taking into consideration that the threat of terrorism is more severe than ever before in Africa, and economic development cannot progress at the pace of population increase, we can expect a migratory pressure to toughen on Europe,” the foreign minister said.

Europeans lose Europe?

“If Brussels maintains its pro-migration policy, then there will be a realistic danger that Europeans lose Europe because Brussels’ migration policy attracts people to the continent,” he added.

At the same time, Szijjártó said that speeding up the enlargement of the European Union was among the priorities of Hungary’s upcoming EU presidency.

“In terms of enlargement, we must focus on making sure that countries of the Western Balkans get entry in the EU as soon as possible,” he added.