‘We don’t want an empire built in Brussels’: Hungary’s FM speaks to RT about migrants & rocky relationship with the EU

Brussels and Budapest have been locked in a standoff about illegal migrants for a few years. Hungary’s Foreign Minister told RT that his country is very much for the bloc, but it should not turn into a Brussels-centered empire.

“We represent a very strong anti-migration policy. We made it very clear that no illegal migrants will be allowed to enter the territory of Hungary,” Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said. On top of that, Hungary has repeatedly said that "we don’t take part in this [EU] quota system of redistribution and resettlement.” 

This position contradicts the policy of Brussels, he lamented,"because Brussels would like the migrants to come to European Union.”

Instead of bringing refugees to Europe to supposedly “help” them, Hungary has opted to help the people in need in their home countries. As the 2015 migrant crisis unfolded, Budapest launched a special program dubbed ‘Hungary Helps’ that focuses on providing relief to the Christians living in the Middle East. Budapest has already “spent $40 million on helping 50 thousand Christians” in the region, according to the minister.

Our principal position is the following: we have to bring help where it is needed and should not bring problems where there are no problems.

While such an approach is quite different to the pro-migration, globalist stance preached by Brussels, Budapest is not against the EU, but is actually all for it as the country “is deeply integrated into the European economy,” Szijjarto said. Hungary’s view of the EU itself, however, differs from the mainstream – Budapest believes the Union should be based on the “strong member states,” which embrace their “Christian heritage.”

We don’t want to see an empire being built in Brussels, we want to see a European Union based on strong member states, where national identity, national competence and national sovereignty are important.

The wave of migration has increased the terror threat in the Union, as well as created entire “parallel societies” within some of its western member states, Szijjarto said.

Over the past few years, several terrorist attacks were committed throughout Europe by asylum seekers. Blaming the increased terrorist threat solely on migrants, however, would not be entirely correct, since domestic radicalization appears to be on the rise in the EU as well.

That said, Szijjarto bemoaned the emergence of the “parallel societies,” composed of a “loud minority [that] puts daily pressure on the silent majority.”

Crime-infested “no-go” zones, where police and businesses are too afraid to venture, exist now in several European countries. Sweden appears to have had it the worst, as major cities in the country, including Stockholm, Malmo and Gothenburg, have such areas.

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