Hungarian EU presidency to work for migration burden-sharing

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said today that the Hungarian presidency of the European Union would support the principle of burden-sharing with regard to illegal migration.

Speaking after talks at the Auberge de Castille with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, Mr Orban said that his country understood Malta's immigration problems because it too was a frontier state. He described burden-sharing as 'essential' and said his country would work on this principle once it assumes the presidency of the EU in January.

Dr Gonzi said the talks had focused on EU and bilateral issues including migration and the need for effective burden-sharing and repatriation facilities. Other issues included the economic situation, competitiveness and job creation.

Mr Orban said his country was against tax harmonisation - muted recently in some quarters of the EU - since that could undermine the competitiveness of some countries.

He insisted that the economic recovery must be accompanied by job creation.

"We have to come out of this crisis, Jobs, jobs, jobs is my understanding of the future," he stressed.

In a reference to the bailout for Ireland, the Hungarian prime minister said that it was important in such situations for decisions to be taken quickly.

The issue, he said, was not the bailout, but life after the bailout. Speaking from the Hungarian experience of receiving IMF help, he said that countries in such situations should accept bailout assistance, but then seek to return to the bond markets as quickly as possible.

Dr Gonzi said that Malta would continue to support countries to overcome their difficulties as quickly as possible.

The Hungarian prime minister said that other priorities of his country's presidency would be energy security and enlargement of the EU. It was hoped that accession talks with Croatia would be concluded in the next few months.