"Just because someone is an Afghan citizen, we do not necessarily support their admission to Hungary," Minister Pintér said.Continue reading
At a “serious and at times tough” debate on the situation in Afghanistan, the Brussels institutions and certain member states reverted to the “2015 track” in handling migration at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting in Brdo pri Kranju, in Slovenia, Szijjártó lambasted EU leaders for “slipping back onto the path of 2015, even though there is constant talk of not repeating the mistakes of the 2015 migration crisis.”
The ministers also discussed issuing a call on the Taliban to allow free passage to those who want to leave the country. This, he insisted, was “in fact an invitation to any Afghan that wants to leave”. He warned that it was a “very dangerous, irresponsible position” and argued that half of Afghanistan’s population of 39 million had lived on humanitarian aid even before the Taliban took over, while the country has at least 4 million domestic refugees, which could trigger another wave of mass migration. He added, however, that the Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia, and Hungary had “rather firmly argued against migration”.
Afghanistan is “one of the hotbeds of terrorism”, Szijjártó said, adding that an exodus of Afghans could “provide an opportunity to hundreds or thousands of terrorists to come to Europe” and reach Turkey or the Western Balkans “practically unobstructed”.
The Hungarian government has rescued Afghans that used to help Hungarian troops but “not a single person apart from them will be accommodated”, he said. “The security of our country and that of the Hungarian people is of paramount importance,” the minister said.
Central European participants in the meeting made it clear that they would not support any mandatory migrant quotas, Szijjarto said, adding that “each country has the sovereign right to decide whom to allow in and whom to live with”. “Nobody, whether Brussels or the European Commission, will force any decision concerning that matter on us,” he said.
Participants in the talks also discussed issues around cooperation with China, India, and the Persian Gulf on Friday.
Not only did the 20-year international campaign in Afghanistan end up a failure but the Western world has been making mistake after mistake since, Foreign Minister Szijjártó said ahead of an informal meeting with his European Union counterparts on Thursday.
Since withdrawing from Afghanistan, the Western allies have constantly been making irresponsible statements urging Afghans to come to Europe, Szijjártó said on arriving at the meeting in Brdo Castle, near Kranj, in Slovenia.
“This is extremely irresponsible,” the Hungarian foreign minister said, adding that Western politicians were not wary of “repeating the mistakes of 2015” when more than a million migrants fleeing from the Middle East crossed into Europe.
Szijjártó said that Afghans are now being encouraged to come to Europe the same way Syrians had been in 2015. “This poses a serious migration risk,” he said.
Hungary rescued Afghans who helped its troops during the military campaign, he noted. “But those apart, we refuse to take in a single Afghan,” the minister added.
The migration wave should be stopped rather than encouraged, Szijjarto said. “We refuse to take part in any redistribution scheme, whether requested by the EU or NATO,” he added.
Featured photo via Péter Szijjártó’s Facebook page
