At a joint press conference with his Czech counterpart, Jan Lipavsky, the head of the ministry pointed out that the current visit is taking place at an extraordinary time when the world is facing serious challenges, but hopefully all of this can strengthen the Central European community of destiny, as the countries of the region are facing the most devastating in the neighborhood with the consequences of war, MTI wrote.
He emphasized that one of the main goals of the upcoming Hungarian EU presidency is to stop the decline of the community, and the other is for the government to carry out a true Central European presidency. According to his words, by the latter they mean that they want to focus on important topics for Central Europe.
He underlined: they will focus on the effectiveness of the fight against illegal migration, speeding up the expansion of the EU in the Western Balkans and guaranteeing energy security.
He then explained that Central Europe has directly experienced the dramatic effects of migration waves since 2015, and that serious regional cooperation was needed to stop the immigration flow.
Czech, Slovak and Polish policemen helped and are helping us at the southern border of Hungary to keep out illegal immigrants who pose a threat to Europe. And the joint continuous effort of the prime ministers of the four Central European countries is necessary to keep the issue of quotas under control and not allow thousands and tens of thousands of illegal migrants to roam here without control
he underlined.
“So we will continue to resist quota pressure in the future,” he warned.
Regarding the Western Balkans enlargement, Péter Szijjártó called it unworthy that the member candidates in the region have been waiting for entry for an average of 14 years and 11 months, which also undermines the credibility of EU policy.
“This is a situation that needs to be resolved, which is why the Hungarian presidency has a clear agenda on how to help the Western Balkan countries speed up the accession processes,” he said.
After that, he touched on the topic of energy security, stating that both states are planning nuclear developments, which is why they will continue to stand up in Brussels against negative discrimination against nuclear energy.
“Nuclear energy is a sustainable form of energy production, a safe, environmentally friendly, cheap way to produce large amounts of electricity,” he declared.
This helps to maintain and improve the competitiveness of Central Europe, so we do not want to give up and we are ready to involve Czech companies in Hungarian nuclear developments, and we are also in a good position in terms of Hungarian companies appearing in the field of Czech nuclear developments
he announced. Speaking about bilateral relations, the minister believed that the Hungarian-Czech cooperation is much closer than it is in the public mind.
“It is in our absolute interest to not only maintain this good cooperation, but also to continuously develop it. And I’m glad that the intention and commitment to this doesn’t seem one-sided,” he said.
He emphasized that the Czech Republic is Hungary’s sixth largest trading partner, and last year the record for bilateral trade was broken, the value of which has now exceeded 14 billion euros.
The Czech Republic is the fourth most important target country for Hungarian capital investments, and in recent years efforts have been made to establish joint ventures in the transport and defense industries, he pointed out, also mentioning that Mol now operates more than three hundred gas stations in the Czech Republic.
Visegrad cooperation has always played and continues to play an important role in Hungary’s foreign policy strategy, and I hope it will continue to do so in the future, as I believe that Visegrad cooperation contributes to improving the competitiveness and security of Central Europe, and also brings us all closer to achieving our national goals.
– he summed up.
Tags: Hungary preparing real Central European presidencyVIDEO
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