BUDAPEST, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Hungarian and Polish governments will not vote on any sanctions against one another during the procedures under Article 7 of the European Union (EU), according to Hungarian minister of foreign affairs and trade Peter Szijjarto here on Monday.
"Hungary will not vote on any sanctions against Poland and can count on Poland's support throughout the procedures under Article 7," Szijjarto declared in a statement published on the ministry's website, a day before the EU foreign ministers' meeting.
Szijjarto was referring to the procedure of the EU launched against the Hungarian government following the adoption of the so-called Sargentini report in September.
In the report, the European Parliament largely supports a resolution calling on EU member states to launch Article 7 procedures against Hungary in order to prevent the risk of a "serious breach of European values".
Adopted on Sept. 12, the Sargentini report enumerated a number of concerns concerning the rule of law in Hungary, the changes to its electoral system without the approval of the opposition parties, the independence of the judiciary, namely the decrease of power of the Constitutional Court, corruption issues, freedom of expression, assembly and religion, as well as the rights of minorities and asylum-seekers.
Szijjarto said he had a long discussion with Polish foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz, during which they mutually assured each other of their country's support. The main topics of the discussion were EU procedures against Hungary and Poland and the challenges caused by migration, according to the statement.
Budapest and Warsaw also agreed that the proceedings against their countries were purely politically-based attacks and reiterated that both Polish and Hungarian measures were fully in line with EU regulations.
"The political attacks are clearly due to the migration policy of the two countries, which clearly stipulate that neither Poland nor Hungary will accept illegal immigrants and reject any kind of compulsory settlement program for migrants," Szijjarto concluded.
On Oct. 13, the Hungarian government published a rare video message in English in response to the Sargentini report.
"The government of Hungary will not leave unanswered the offense committed against Hungary in the Sargentini Report," the government declared. "We would like to make clear before the general European public that we do not want to become an immigrant country."
