Hungarian, Serbian Socialist leaders discuss migrant crisis, EU integration

Budapest, November 18 (MTI) – Jozsef Tobias, the leader of the opposition Socialists, discussed the migrant crisis and Serbia’s EU integration with Bojan Pajtic, leader of Serbia’s Democratic Party, in Budapest on Wednesday.

The European community should consider Serbia a cooperating partner in its collective action plan aimed at resolving the migrant crisis, Tobias told a subsequent press conference.

Pajtic said it would be undesirable to witness an “anti-Muslim hysteria” gaining ground in Europe after the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut and the downing of a Russian plane in Egypt. He proposed that Europe should be guided by the principle of solidarity in addressing the issue.

Tobias and Pajtic agreed that the fence erected along the Hungarian-Serbian border is not a solution to the migration issue, it only stands in the way of peaceful relations between the two countries.

Tobias reassured his partner that the Hungarian Socialist Party supports Serbia’s integration into the EU.

Tobias and Pajtic exchanged views about radical nationalist Jobbik party’s recent move to open an office in Vojvodina, Serbia’s northernmost province.

Jobbik deputy leader Istvan Szavay opened the office in Senta (Zenta) in late October “to help locals in procedures to obtain Hungarian citizenship and provide them consultancy in solving problems they face”.

Pajtic, who heads the government of Vojvodina, said there was no need of such an office as “chauvinism must not be imported in the province.”

“We have enough problems in dealing with our own extremists,” he said, adding that all efforts will be taken towards closing down the Jobbik office.

Pajtic is attending a conference on the EU’s future, hosted by the European progressive foundation FEPS.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters