Turkey is Hungary’s ally in NATO and Europe’s most important ally in stopping migration, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, told a regular press conference on Thursday, on the day of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Budapest. Hungary works to establish good relations with all its allies and all world powers, Gulyás said. The three million migrants currently staying in Turkey would pose an irresolvable challenge to Europe should Turkey decide to stop catering for them, he said. Last year, “almost all important EU leaders” met Erdoğan, Gulyás noted. The EU has also pledged to provide substantial financial support for Turkey’s migration-related activities, he said.
Meanwhile, responding to a question on the EU budget, Gulyás said most member states did not regard the proposal submitted by the outgoing European Commission to be open to debate and an agreement was unlikely to be reached, even under the Croatian EU presidency, given the current chasm of opinion between them. A deal may be reached during Germany’s presidency since Germany had the muscle to persuade the various sides to reach an agreement, he suggested.
Gulyás said Hungary was a standard-bearer for European enlargement, adding the government had been assured that Olivér Várhelyi, Hungary’s commissioner nominee, would receive the enlargement and neighborhood portfolio, and, to his knowledge, this was still the state of affairs.
Meanwhile, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said any debate concerning Hungary and the euro was “academic”. Hungary, he noted, had undertaken to adopt the single currency at some point but not by a specific deadline.