The German government now rejects illegal immigration, minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás said after meeting his German counterpart in Berlin.
Gulyás met Helge Braun (CDU), who was appointed Head of the Chancellery on March 14th this year in the fourth coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Origo.hu reports.
According to Gulyás, his counterpart confirmed that anyone defending the outer borders of Europe is a friend of Germany.
“We must act against all forms of illegal immigration and now that is also the consistent opinion of the German government,” Gulyás said
It is now official government policy in Berlin that countries of the Schengen area must meet their border defense obligations. “This means that while our stance has remained unchanged, the two (countries’) opinions are now closer,” Gulyás said, adding that by defending its own borders, Hungary is also protecting Germany.
He said that in the last three years the two countries’ relations have changed “at least as much as the German position on migration”. This also means that by now the two have the same priorities in many areas.
Gulyás also said that there are still disagreements regarding integration and parallel societies, but that Hungary continues to point out that it can live with such disagreements. German-Hungarian relations have a thousand-year history and economic relations are beneficial to both sides. There are only positives in our economic ties and Hungary could benefit from working together with Germany on digitalization and innovation.
He also praised the role of German car makers in the Hungarian economy, saying that Audi AG (a Volkswagen Group subsidiary) has a manufacturing base in western Hungary, Daimler AG in the central region and BMW in the east and as such contributes to a regionally balanced economic development.
