Brussels attempting to bring back ‘failed’ migration policy, says Hungarian foreign minister

Brussels is making a stealth attempt to reinstate its failed migration policy, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said during a break in a meeting with his European Union counterparts in Brussels on Monday.

“There’s some hoodwinking going on when it comes to migration, with European officials cheering and giving their analysis about how the migration crisis is a thing of the past,” Szijjártó told Hungarian reporters. The minister argued that the most recent reports show that the number of people attempting to enter Europe illegally is up.

The fact that 50 percent more illegal migrants were apprehended in Turkey last year than in 2017 and that the number of arrivals on the Greek-Turkish land border is rising steadily contradicts the claims of some EU leaders,

Szijjártó said. Further, the number of illegal arrivals registered in Spain has doubled over the course of just one year, he said, adding that the number of illegal border crossings has also doubled in Cyprus.

He pointed out that the United Nations Global Migration Compact is included as a reference point in the migration chapter of the joint declaration of the EU-Arab League ministerial meeting scheduled for February. Szijjártó noted that one-third of the EU member states, including Hungary, did not vote for the package.

Hungary will not approve a declaration that encourages the exploitation of the opportunities presented by migration routes and says that migration can contribute significantly to the growth and sustainable development of origin, transit and destination countries, the minister said.

As regards the issue of fake news, which was also on the meeting’s agenda, Szijjártó said the EU is planning to introduce a mechanism designed to filter out fake news believed to be mainly of Russian origin and protect the bloc from such external interference.