“This is why the instability in the western Balkans poses a serious security risk for Hungary,” the minister said. If the region remains unstable, a large wave of migrants can easily storm through it and such a wave could reach Hungary’s southern border within a matter of hours, Szijjártó added. Hungary urges the EU to take two steps in the matter, Szijjártó said.

The first of these is speeding up the EU integration of the western Balkan countries. The bloc must complete its accession talks with Serbia by 2020, he said, adding that Montenegro should also join the EU after its successful accession to NATO.

The minister urged the EU to begin accession talks with Macedonia as soon as possible. “If we fail to integrate the western Balkans into the EU, then the central European region will be completely defenceless from the south,” Szijjártó insisted.

The second step is that EU member states should support the western Balkan states so that they can sustain the flow of migrants on that route. He said Hungary will continue to aid these countries in their border protection efforts just as it had done in the past year.

Earlier, on the sidelines of the forum, Szijjártó held talks with his Latvian, Slovenian and Romanian counterparts to discuss European security and energy policy. In his talks with Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics the two agreed that security must be a priority for Europe in today’s world, a statement from the Hungarian ministry said.

They also agreed that it is important to protect the external borders of Europe, too and that the EU’s quota for resettling migrants is unacceptable. Meeting with his Slovenian counterpart Karl Erjavec, Szijjártó signed an agreement on cross-border infrastructural developments.

Two new border crossings will be opened financed from EU sources, the two countries’ electricity networks will be linked up and talks will continue on the development of Koper port and the development of the railway line connecting it with Hungary.

In his talks with Romanian Foreign Minister Lazăr Comănescu the two ministers agreed that Hungarian- Romanian relations should continue to be improved on a step-by-step basis, in view of Romania being the second largest export market for Hungarian businesses.

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

MTI photo: KKM