The statement was made by Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó on Monday at a meeting of the group’s ministers in charge of transitioning Hungary into taking over the revolving presidency of the V4 group for the next twelve months.
“The Visegrad Four (V4), who oppose the mandatory resettlement quota, Brussels’ anti-immigration policy, have agreed to help Lithuania curb migration from Belarus,” Szijjártó said, adding that “in the next few days, the details will be worked out and the assistance to Lithuania will be coordinated, be it in terms of human resources or technical equipment, such as fencing.”
“There will be a common, coordinated Visegrad assistance so that our Lithuanian friends can also protect the European Union’s external border,” Szijjártó said.
He also said that the most important goal of the Hungarian presidency of the Visegrád group is to help the economy to restart quickly throughout the Visegrád region.
“Restarting the economy will not go hand in hand with a tax increase, so Hungary continues to oppose a global minimum tax,” the Minister said, then pointed out that fiscal and financial discipline were implemented in all four countries.
“Those who have not acted with discipline in the past are expected not to force higher tax burdens on us due to their own fiscal policy mistakes,” he added.
Underlining the importance of the V4 countries, Péter Szijjártó said that he handled 15 percent of Hungary’s foreign trade last year and in the first four months of this year with its three Visegrad partners, an amount worth 30 billion euros last year.
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said that Lithuania has already asked the V4 member states individually for help, that the group of countries wants to coordinate this help, and the group wants to be “a strong advocate (for Lithuania) when the Baltic country faces this unprecedented challenge.”
Title image: The ministers in charge of the four countries’ Visegrád group hold a joint press conference in Komárom, Northern Hungary on July 19, 2021. (MTI/Zsolt Szigetváry)
