Szijjártó: Flooding of Europe by migrants cannot be repeated

Copenhagen, May 31 (MTI) – A situation where hundreds of thousands of people flood the continent without any control, as happened in 2015, cannot be repeated, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said after holding talks in Copenhagen on Tuesday.

The minister said in an MTI phone interview that a joint European solution was needed to settle the migration crisis.

Szijjártó said he agreed with Kristian Jensen, the Danish deputy prime minister and foreign minister, that European border protection is a vital part of the battle against illegal migration. He said he had told Jensen that under the document dubbed Schengen 2.0 Hungary sees external border protection as the top priority in terms of handling the migrant crisis.

Hungary cannot accept the mandatory quota system, since this would serve as an invitation to migrants and would only increase pressure on Europe, Szijjártó said at the talks. Hungary sees the European Commission’s plan to levy a fine for non-compliance as blackmail.

He said talks touched on the economic sanctions against Russia. Hungary does not support extending these automatically. An open political debate must be held at the highest level on the future of the sanctions, considering their impact so far, he added. Denmark is not against engaging in such talks, Szijjártó said.