The UK and Hungary share a number views and without British support “dialogue could take the wrong direction for Hungary,” he said. Both Hungary and Britain think that national parliaments should have greater powers, he said, arguing that recent EU crises had proved that “the ability to make important decisions in a short time is basically at the national level”.

Szijjártó said that a “fundamental change” was needed in the philosophy behind the EU’s immigration policy.

The minister argued that the EU was promoting immigration, and its efforts were focused on distributing the resulting burden. Reducing that burden should be a top priority rather than distributing it, he insisted. “We should reduce the number of immigrants to a minimum,” Szijjártó said.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.