PM: Hungary’s solution approved for the first time in the EU

Regarding the issue of migration, the Hungarian position has been clear throughout: controls, identification, interception and turning back – precisely as laid down in the Schengen Agreement. This is a difficult and costly task, Mr. Orbán said, but as far as the protection of Hungary is concerned it has been a successful policy.

The southern borders of Europe can only be protected in this manner, in accordance with the concepts and decisions jointly prepared and represented by the Visegrad Four (V4). 

Britain’s reform deal with the European Union meets the primary goal of V4 countries, as the deal keeps EU citizens’ right to free movement, the bloc’s most important principle, intact, Mr. Orbán said. The favourable outcome of negotiations with Britain for the V4 group was a result of the joint efforts of Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic. The prime minister said Britain’s demands were about making the EU stronger and thus more competitive.

The deal will make the EU more proactive on the global economic stage, which will be key in the future even if Britain were to leave the union, he said. Orbán said the fact that Britain will remain open to EU citizens looking to work there is a collective success for the other 27 member states. He said the deal guaranteed that Hungarians working in the UK will not be discriminated against, and that they will continue to get “what they have paid for”. Concerning Europe’s migrant crisis,

Orbán said EU leaders accepted at the summit that Europe’s borders must be protected and the migrant inflow stopped. They also agreed on the need for all member states to keep to Schengen rules. This was the first time that the EU accepted Hungary’s proposals on this issue: that migrants need to be stopped, checked, identified and turned back, in line with the Schengen pact, Orbán noted.