The Hungarian government respects the decision of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and of other EU member states, but expects that they equally respect Hungary’s decisions, too, he said.

Mass migration causes harm to Europe and it weakens the continent, Szijjártó said.

“It would not be an exaggeration to say that Europe’s future depends on whether it will succeed in its efforts of stopping the wave of migration,” he said.

Szijjártó rejected proposals made by Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on sanctioning EU member states by reducing EU development funding to countries that refuse to accept the mandatory quota system, arguing that migration and EU funding are two separate matters.

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MTI photo: KKM/Burger Zsolt