Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Friday that Hungary is not going to build on its borders, stating ‘not a kilometre more than needed’ and expressed hope that Romania is able to defend its own borders.
“Can anyone tell me how to face an influx of 8,000-10,000 illegal migrants per day, on a border of hundreds of kilometres, how can we meet the obligations of the Schengen agreement, without a physical obstacle? By building a fence we meant no prejudice to honest people. We don’t build more fences than necessary and we do hope Romania is able to defend its own borders and will never have to face an influx of migrants similar to the one Hungary had to face,” Szijjarto said during a joint press conference in Bucharest together with Romanian FM Lazar Comanescu.
The foreign ministers said Romania and Hungary have a common point of view on migration, meaning that EU foreign borders have to be defended.
“Currently there’s no fence under construction at the Hungarian-Romanian border. It might be built, we hope not to face a situation that needs us to discuss this subject. We wish for Romania, and for us, that the two countries do not face in the future pressures from the migrants that could lead to consequent decisions,” added the Hungarian FM.
In Szijjarto’s opinion, in Europe there is “politics in two ways” because although EU politicians talk very much about migration, nothing is done to protect the EU frontiers.
“We have to stop this uncontrolled migration. If Greece is not able to meet its obligation, we have to set up another defensive line, involving Bulgaria and Macedonia. With all due respect to Greece, if someone does not meet the obligations coming from the community it belongs to, then there must be consequences, as the risk lies for the entire community to fall apart. We should seriously consider the scenario that the southern border of the Schengen region is to move north of Greece,” the Hungarian official said.
FM Szijjarto added that Hungary supports Romania for his Schengen approach.
In his turn, FM Lazar Comanescu has pleaded for cooperation at EU level in order to consolidate the external borders, adding that Romania is one of the main contributors to FRONTEX.
“It is essential for us to work together bilaterally and at EU level, to consolidate and secure the external borders so that we avoid influencing the good functioning of the Schengen area,” Comanescu said.
Victor Lupu
I am in late 50s, great age to become a philosopher! Yet, I am doing my job in journalism, trying to deliver clear and accurate information to our readers, be them expats in Romania or people living abroad and interested in the developments taking place here.
I worked for several important newspapers, attended a Reuters scholarship, had collaborations with Al-Jazeera and Intelstrat. As journalist, I had the opportunity to interview several Romanian ministers and the NATO Secretary General at the time Javier Solana.
Anyway, these are old stories, currently I focus on this news website and, together with my colleagues, I do my best to achieve our goals.
I hope most of our readers will continue to access our website. Keep in touch with Romanian realities! Several rounds of elections are ahead, the courts are expected to deliver some important rulings that may change the entire domestic spectrum. We’ll be here to keep you informed!