Hungary’s foreign minister has said that as long as Europe’s security depends exclusively on the good will of Turkey, its borders will remain defenseless.
Péter Szijjártó, minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Turkey had terminated its agreement with Greece to take back migrants. “This goes to show how fragile the situation has become on Europe’s southern border,” Minister Szijjártó said.
“If the EU-Turkish deal goes the same way as the Greek-Turkish agreement, a new wave of migrants can be expected on the Western Balkan route, and hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants may arrive on Hungary’s southern border in the blink of an eye,” he added.
The minister made the remarks following a meeting of foreign ministers of the Central European Initiative in Split.
The delegates agreed on the need for a common policy that does not encourage migrants to move to Europe. “Migration must be tackled at its root,” he said.
He added that countries of origin for migrants should cooperate more closely in order to put a stop to the outflow. He noted that the meeting’s agenda included European Union enlargement along with migration, but everyone was talking about the new migrant route in the Western Balkans.
Minister Szijjártó said the Western Balkans was the only remaining line of defense and Hungary’s fence “really works”.
He added that “very alarming” developments were taking place to the south of Europe, which make it “clear” that Brussels had failed to build a southern line of defense over the past three and a half years. “The danger is here and it is growing,” he said.