Hungarian MFA: Improve African Quality of Life to Curb Irregular Migration to Europe

Peter Szijjarto has again stated that it is better to support the African countries by improving their quality of life in their own borders than to focus on managing irregular migration into Europe.

SchengenVisaInfo.com reported that the Minister, while visiting Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, revealed an agreement reached with the Ethiopian Government for economic co-operation and elimination of double taxes.

According to him in recent years the migration root causes have intensified, leading to a growing pressure on migration in Europe that the EU authorities are unable to deal with.

"Since EU policies inspire one migration wave after the other, cooperation has become a priority with African countries willing and able to keep young citizens home, who are also of key importance for the future of their homeland," Minister Szijjarto pointed out in this regard.

According to AboutHungary's report, he added that the goal of the cooperation between Hungary with Ethiopia was to prevent Ethiopian citizens from leaving the country in order for them enter EU countries illegally.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs also announced that Hungary will double the number university scholarships available to Ethiopian students next year, from 50 to 100. He stressed that Hungarian firms are playing a vital role in Ethiopian agriculture, digitisation, and digitalisation.

Minister Szijjarto had previously stated that Hungary was ready to assist countries who are less developed in order to improve their stability and prevent future migration waves.

He said that in this respect, the consequences of war in Ukraine had directly affected Hungary as well as the rest of the world.

He explains that serious challenges with global energy and food supplies can pose security risks to countries with lower levels of development.

Szijjarto said that these challenges could also lead to the spreading of extremist ideologies, and an increasing perception of danger. According to him, this is one of the major causes of large-scale irregular migration.

In recent years, Hungary has mainly struggled to deal with the huge flow of irregular migration. In December 2022, Hungary recorded 265,000 illegal border crossings, up from 114,000 the year before.

Source: schengenvisainfo.com