“Hungary has always applied a considerate approach to political refugees,” he said, adding that the issue of “economic migrants”, however, was a different matter, and it had to be dealt with locally.

The minister said there was plenty of common ground regarding the positions of Hungary and Germany, and that the two governments agreed that the causes of economic migration had to be addressed in the migrants’ countries of origin. He said the assessment of asylum requests had to be sped up in the case of applicants coming from countries deemed as safe. In their meeting, Trócsányi and Meyer-Landrut touched on the issue of capital punishment.

Trócsányi reassured the chief advisor for European affairs that Hungary’s constitution prohibited the death penalty and that Hungary would honour its commitments to international agreements. He said in this respect the death penalty was “not up for discussion” and no legal steps were being considered.

This issue is more of one concerning freedom of opinion and whether there were any taboo subjects in the EU, he said. Trócsányi took part in a podium discussion on the rule of law in Hungary organised by the German Council on Foreign Relations.

The minister said the conclusion to the debate was that legal institutions in Hungary were functioning properly.

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MTI photo: Koszticsák Szilárd