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Hungary accuses Austria of confusing 'solidarity' with 'stupidity'

Monday, 21 December 2015 10:21 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 21 December 2015 10:27 AM ]

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto (Photo by AFP)

Hungary says Austria confused "solidarity" with "stupidity" when it urged the former to accept thousands of refugees under the European Union's quota plan "with no controls."

"The Austrian chancellor does not see the difference between solidarity and stupidity," Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Sunday. "Solidarity means helping people who are in danger where they live, and helping them to return home once the conflict is finished."

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann had said that countries, which do not accept their share of refugees under the EU quota program, should face sanctions.

"Stupidity is letting hundreds of thousands of people - millions - into Europe with no controls, while everyone, Europeans and migrants alike, can see they'll never get what they hoped for here," he added.

In September, the interior ministers of the European Union imposed a plan to resettle 160,000 refugees across the EU countries.

Refugees arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after they crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey, November 23, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Szijjarto, however, accused foreign politicians of "using blackmail to bring more migrants into Europe, then distributing them through a system of obligatory quotas."

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has threatened legal action against EU countries that refused to accept refugees under the program.

“If it cannot be done otherwise, things will be resolved through the appropriate legal channels,” Steinmeier told German weekly Der Spiegel on Sunday. “Europe is a community of law.”

He warned Hungary and Slovakia that "solidarity is not a one way street." Last month, Slovakia said it would complain against the EU quota program to plan to distribute 160,000 refugees and migrants across the bloc. Hungary and Slovakia are due to accept about 2,300 refugees and migrants each.

According to recent figures released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 933,776 refugees have reached Europe’s shores so far this year, while more than 3,619 people have died in their perilous journey to the continent.

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