Hungarian, Macedonian FMs to cooperate to combat mass migration

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Thursday voiced solidarity with countries bearing the brunt of the mass migration, including Macedonia.

Addressing a news conference here after a meeting with his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Poposki, Szijjarto said Hungary was fully committed to Macedonia's EU and NATO integration process.

Given that Europe is faced with a migration crisis and Macedonia is in the middle of the migration route, the EU is being forced to seek help from a country whose accession talks it has refused to even begin, he added.

Szijjarto noted that the Visegrad Group (Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland) have proposed closer cooperation between the EU and Macedonia.

For his part, Poposki said that it was unacceptable to expect a country that was not an EU member to bear the brunt of the migration burden.

Poposki called on Greece to adhere to international rules governing migration and said his country was ready to admit genuine refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Szijjarto said Hungary would supply Macedonia with whatever equipment and manpower it needed to protect its border.

Hungarian police will be traveling to Macedonia in March, he said, but did not give numbers. The size of the force would depend on the number of accommodations available for them, Szijjarto added. Endit