Lavrov expects EU countries to settle differences on migrants' problem
NEW YORK (the United Nations). Sept 19 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto he was hopeful that the European Union will be able to settle differences over the situation with the distribution of migrants.
"We are always standing for the European Union unity, therefore, we wish everything to be good," Lavrov said at the beginning of the meeting on the sidelines of the 72nd UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
"We face another argument following the European Court [in Luxembourg] judgment with respect to the quotas on migrants," the Hungarian foreign minister said. "We are being under pressure. But we will bar illegal migrants from travelling to Hungary, regardless of pressure being put on us," the Hungarian minister said.
In the autumn of 2015, the EU countries have made a decision to accommodate 160,000 refugees, who had been staying in Greece and Italy at the time, across their territory. The quotas were distributed in proportion to the population of the EU states. Hungary spoke out against this decision, but the European Commission compelled it to admit 1,300 people. Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are currently standing against the migration quotas' execution. Hungary and Slovakia have earlier filed a lawsuit with the European Court in Luxembourg, demanding to overturn the 2015 EU Council of Interior Ministers' decision on mandatory quotas on the distribution of refugees. The court has declined this lawsuit. Hungarian authorities said that they had taken into consideration this decision, but are not set to change their migration policy.