A tunnel under the Hungarian-Serbian border – Photo: police.hu

Szijjarto: Brussels ‘ineffective’ against illegal migration, drug abuse

Illegal migration and increasing drug consumption are two serious global security challenges linked to organised crime, and the European Union's measures are "not effective enough", the Hungarian foreign minister said in Kyoto, where he attended the 14th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, on Monday.

Speaking to MTI, Peter Szijjarto said that the coronavirus pandemic had created new global security challenges, which, if left untackled, would generate further problems.

He said illegal migration posed a security and cultural threat to Europe and carried a health risk of rapid transmission of Covid-19. Illegal migration is helped by organised crime since migrants “use the services of people smuggling rings often helped by NGOs”, Szijjarto said.

As regards drugs, Szijjarto said that “unfortunately, what we see is that Brussels supports not only illegal migration but an increased use of drugs”, adding that “cannabis has recently been reclassified in the UN as an allegedly non-hazardous substance”.

The Hungarian government opposed that step and the European Commission in response launched an infringement procedure against the country rather than increase its efforts to cut drug abuse.

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