Hungarian FM praises Cape Verde’s ‘responsible attitude’ to migration

Cape Verde is a country demonstrating a responsible attitude to migration, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Wednesday.

Szijjártó has accompanied Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on a visit to Praia, the capital of Cape Verde.

The minister told Hungary’s public media that in many parts of Europe, especially in Brussels, “a disturbing simplification” is applied to Africa. The European Commission often tries to present the continent as a group of countries that have “schemed” to send their citizens to Europe and want to get rid of the burdens of population growth this way, he said. However, this is untrue in many cases, for instance in the case of Cape Verde, which wants to retain its population instead of sending people away, he added. Cape Verde has introduced serious border control measures and takes cooperation with Europe seriously, so Hungary is calling on the EU to also take seriously the development of links with Cape Verde, he said.

Hungary is urging the EU to sign bilateral economic partnership agreements with Cape Verde, Szijjártó said.

“We must help countries that demonstrate a serious and responsible attitude towards measures that directly influence the security of Europe,” he added.