Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Thursday criticised what he called “dangerous and unreasonable proposals” put forward by European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell concerning the situation in the Middle East. Speaking at a press conference after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Szijjártó said Borrell “has seemingly lost control” and was putting forward proposals “that are extremely dangerous for Europe”. Szijjártó criticised a proposal for the EU to impose sanctions on two Israeli ministers. “It’s an extremely dangerous and absolutely unreasonable proposal, because such a decision would raise major question marks in the Middle East, and would completely undermine the cooperation between the European Union and Israel,” Szijjártó said, according to a ministry statement. He praised Israel for its agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) on the launch of a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza. “This step must be appreciated,” he said. “They wanted to adopt a joint position here today that would have criticised Israel in spite of this agreement, so we asked that it be amended.”
Szijjártó also welcomed Israel’s commitment to guaranteeing religious freedom on the Temple Mount and in the country’s holy places. “Certain steps in the recent period have raised concern among certain Israeli politicians and certain Christian communities,” he said. “And in this respect I believe the Israeli foreign minister’s and prime minister’s public commitment to maintaining the freedom to practise religion is significant.”
Meanwhile, Szijjártó said Thursday’s meeting was also attended by Türkiye’s foreign minister, noting that there had not been such a high-level meeting between the EU and Türkiye in the last five years. He underscored the importance of preserving the EU and Türkiye’s cooperation on migration, saying he had asked his Turkish counterpart “not to let themselves be talked out of keeping migration at bay just because they see an EU member state being made to pay tens and hundreds of thousands of forints for protecting its borders”. Szijjártó said he and his Turkish counterpart did not hold bilateral talks this time because they could “do so at any time” and will talk on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting next month. The minister said Türkiye was “indispensable” when it came to responding to the challenges before the EU, whether it be energy security or migration.
On another subject, he said the deadly stabbing in Germany last weekend had demonstrated “just how dangerous and unreasonable the pressure Brussels is trying to put on Hungary is”. “We don’t want a Solingen in Hungary, we don’t want stabbings in Hungary, we don’t want illegal migrants in Hungary, so it’s simply shocking and outrageous that while the number of crimes committed and the number of people killed by illegal migrants in Europe is rising, the European Union is punishing us because we protect ourselves and our border and don’t allow illegal immigrants into the country,” he said.