"No tragedy is enough to bring Brussels to its senses"

The riots in France clearly demonstrate that migrants are impossible to integrate, Hurgarian FM Peter Szijjarto has said.

Budapest, 2023. június 6. Szijjártó Péter külgazdasági és külügyminiszter beszédet mond a Dana Hungary Kft. beruházásbejelentõ sajtótájékoztatóján a Külgazdasági és Külügyminisztériumban 2023. június 6-án. A Dana amerikai gépjármûalkatrész-gyártó körülbelül 36 milliárd forint értékû beruházása nyomán 300 új munkahely jön létre Gyõrben. A vállalat elektromos meghajtási egységeket és akkumulátorok hûtésére alkalmas termékeket fog gyártani már meglévõ üzemében; az állam 6,6 milliárd forinttal támogatja a fejlesztést. MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt Fotó: Szigetváry Zsolt

The events in France show the failure of social integration efforts in Western Europe. It has become clear that illegal immigrants arriving en masse from other cultures are impossible to integrate, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said at a session of the country’s parliament on Tuesday. According his ministry' statement, Mr Szijjarto said:

There may be or may have been people in Europe who have lived under the illusion that social integration efforts in Western Europe could one day succeed. Well, if they have turned on the television in the last few days and watched the news from France, I think that vain hope has quickly turned to disillusionment.

Parallel societies have emerged in many countries, and the silent majority lives in fear in many of those, he pointed out. He added that "no tragedy seems to be enough to bring Brussels to its senses.” The tragedies in the Mediterranean, the accidents that have killed people, the riots in the French cities, the thousands of cars set on fire are still not enough, he said. People have a clear expectation of Brussels, asking the well-paid European bureaucrats to protect the continent's population and borders, stop migration and finally dismantle the business model of people smugglers. Regarding the rules of international law, he explained that if someone has to flee their home country, they can stay temporarily in the first safe country, not in the second, third or tenth.

So, by definition, people who break into Hungary through the southern border cannot be refugees, because there is no war in Serbia, no one's life is in danger there.

he said.

So the people crossing the Serbian-Hungarian border illegally, using force, are border violators. They violate Hungary’s sovereignty, our laws, and they have no business in Hungary, he stated. The FM pointed out that the European Union continues to refuse to pay the funds Hungary is entitled to for political reasons, which runs completely counter to the community’s values and rules. "They simply cannot accept that the Hungarian people have exercised their sovereign right and have made a decision regarding Hungary's future that is not in line with the expectations of the liberal mainstream in Brussels," he said. He underlined that only two and a half years of  the current seven-year budget framework  have passed, and Brussels has already squandered the money, so they are asking member states for additional contributions.

He also noted that the decision to spend "massive billions of euros" on military aid for Ukraine was "absolutely unreasonable", with arms deliveries only prolonging the war.

He said that sanctions are causing serious damage to the European economy, even though the European people bear no responsibility for the conflict, adding that the restrictions have failed to achieve their goal. He also said that Brussels is now asking Hungary to abolish its household utility cost cuts scheme and to increase the utility costs paid the Hungarian people, while European bureaucrats are asking for millions and billions of euros for their own salaries. "Brussels' well-paid bureaucrats (...) have failed to take a single step towards peace in the past year and a half. The European Union's competitiveness has dropped steeply and the money of European citizens is gone," Peter Szijjarto said.

This raises at least three serious questions. Firstly, what have seventy billion euros been spent on in Ukraine? Why wasn't this money enough? (...) Secondly, where is the money Hungary and Poland are entitled to? Is this money still available, or has it been spent for some, who knows what purposes? Thirdly, why do we need to provide additional money to cover the interest charges of the post-coronavirus recovery plan, even though Hungarians and the Poles have not received a single euro cent from this fund?

he asked.

He stressed that Hungary will not give up its utility price cut scheme, will not provide a euro cent to raise the salaries of EU bureaucrats, and that no more of European citizens' money can go to Ukraine until the 70 billion euros spent so far have been accounted for. Regarding the initiative to increase the interest charges loans for the recovery fund, he said that it should be "simply laughed at."

Cover photo: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto(Photo: MTI/Zsolt Szigetvary)