The European Union should not make an agreement with Africa about how local people can come to Europe, but about how they can stay in their place of residence in Africa, according to the ministry, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stated on Monday in Brussels.
During the break of the meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, the head of the ministry stated that, according to the Hungarian point of view, the conditions for remaining in Africa must be created with the support of Europe. On the other hand, in the framework of the so-called post-Cotonou agreement, the European Commission is currently negotiating with 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries about "what kind of pro-migration agreement should be established". "It is unacceptable for us that Brussels is preparing to commit another madness. We consider this to be deeply contrary to European interests, and we will speak out against it in the future as well," he said.
As he said, the example of Hungary clearly shows that such an agreement is not necessary at all, as well as that it is possible to help the security, economic and health development of the neighboring continent at the same time. Péter Szijjártó pointed out that Hungary has sent 20 soldiers to the EU mission in Mali, and a maximum of 80 will participate in the operations of the European forces supporting the Malian army (Takuba) in order to strengthen security in the region and thereby reduce migration pressure. In addition , the government launched an aid loan program in three African countries worth HUF 45 billion, basically in the field of water management. Also, within the framework of the Hungary Helps program, sixty projects were implemented and are being implemented using HUF 4.5 billion, thus helping members of local, typically Christian communities, not to be forced to leave their homes. In addition, it provides 1,400 scholarships for twenty-five African countries at Hungarian universities, he listed.
Hungary also supports the fight against the coronavirus epidemic on the continent, among other things, by handing over one and a half million vaccine doses to six countries. The minister then spoke about the fact that Europe has to face the mistakes it has made in the field of energy security, the consequences of which are the current supply crisis. "It is a comfortable position to point only at Russia and its president. Politically, this may even be salable in some places. But if we want to see a solution in the long term (.), then it should be made clear what mistakes we made," he said. He underlined that the issue of energy supply "must not be politicized or ideologized", because "you cannot heat apartments with political statements". In this regard, he also touched on the fact that there should be no anti-natural gas and nuclear energy sentiment in Europe. He called the government's policy in this field pragmatic and rational, following which, according to him, our country's energy supply will be on a firm footing in the next fifteen years.
In response to a question about the French president's visit to Budapest on Monday, Péter Szijjártó emphasized that, despite existing differences of opinion, the two countries share the same position on several issues of strategic importance, such as external border protection and the use of nuclear energy. In addition, there is close cooperation in industries such as the nuclear and space industries or the electric car industry. He said that there had not yet been official contact between the Hungarian and the new German governments, but his Polish colleague reported "basically positive experiences" during the day. He expressed his hope that bilateral cooperation will be able to continue on the basis of mutual respect, although according to him, the statements of the German Social Democrats at the weekend "didn't really point in this direction". "They rather expressed the intention of a direct intervention in Hungary's internal affairs. We, of course, reject this in the strongest possible terms," he said. Finally, he confirmed that Hungary stands by the territorial unity and sovereignty of Ukraine. At the same time, he reminded that the government made many gestures to the neighboring country, while Kyiv regularly takes measures that seriously violate the rights of the Hungarian national community.
Source and title image: MTI
