V4, Morocco foreign ministers held talks in Budapest

Migration pressure from the Sahel region poses a serious short-term risk to the European Union, which has a vested interest in strengthening the stability of north African states, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday after meeting Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita alongside Visegrad Group foreign ministers.

Szijjártó told a joint press conference after the talks that the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia together had “successfully stopped the introduction of mandatory resettlement quotas in the EU,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“Had we not shown strength and unity, tens of thousands of illegal migrants would be living in central Europe right now,” he said.

Central European states maintain that help should be taken where the trouble is, and the root causes of migration should be handled there, Szijjártó said. Europe should also cooperate with states that can contribute to pushing back “European defence lines” as far as possible, he said.

Migration pressure from Africa “has always been a headache”,

and it is expected to strengthen as the causes of migration from the continent pick up, he said. Twelve terrorist organisations are currently active in the Sahel, he noted. The security of the region is deteriorating and economic challenges are exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, he added.