Hungary rejects French foreign minister’s “accusations”

Budapest (MTI) – The Hungarian government rejects any “ignoble accusations” such as recently made by Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, a state secretary at the Hungarian foreign ministry told a press conference on Monday.

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Levente Magyar spoke after talks with the ambassador or France, who had been summoned to the ministry over his minister’s criticism of Hungary for building a fence along its southern border with Serbia.

Magyar said that Hungary’s measures were aimed at protecting not only Hungary but all members of the European Union.

He said the minister’s comments were especially inappropriate given that Hungary is assuming “almost a bigger role than it can bear” in handling the migrant crisis and is under greater migration pressure than any other European country. “Hungary’s actions conform to both national, EU and international standards,” Magyar said. He said Hungary is simply protecting the Schengen borders by directing migrants to legal border crossing points, as prescribed by EU law.

The state secretary said the minister’s comments were “unacceptable and baffling”, and reflected his “indifference and ignorance” because France had recently built “a fence even larger than Hungary’s” in Calais. He said Hungary does not see the solution to the crisis in “dividing contingents among ourselves in Europe” but rather in protecting those in need while addressing the issue of economic migration outside the EU’s borders.