Not everything Hungary does in the refugee crisis is incorrect, Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s Minister of Finance, has said in Berlin. Germans should focus on their tasks and try to understand their neighbours and friends instead of “criticising others all the time” because this does not serve the reunification of Europe.
At a meeting with the press in the German capital, Mr. Schäuble was asked by a reporter for Hungarian state all-news channel M1 whether he still stands by a statement he made previously in an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung, in which he said that “if we are honest, we have to acknowledge that not everything Hungary has done is incorrect” concerning the refugee crisis.
Mr. Schäuble emphasised that the unification of Europe is impossible “if we criticise others every day and night”. Instead, Germans have to focus on “carrying out their tasks as well as possible”, he said.
The Minister of Finance explained that during the reunification of Germany, he was responsible for relations with the Communist-ruled German Democratic Republic (GDR) as Minister of Interior in the government headed by Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Consequently, he better understands the feelings of the inhabitants of former Eastern Bloc countries and their disenchantment with hopes connected to the falling of the Iron Curtain that many young politicians, he claimed. While this is not in every case justified, “there is no need to criticise our neighbours and friends all the time, instead we should try to relate to them with understanding”, Mr. Schäuble argued.
via mandiner.hu
photo: bundesfinanzministerium.de