BUDAPEST, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The European Parliament election, scheduled for May, has the highest stakes, Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's minister of foreign affairs and trade, said here on Friday.

"No EP election has ever had such high stakes as the one being held this year," Szijjarto declared on Hungarian public radio MR1. He added that he expected a high turnout.

"Immigration is clearly at the centre of attention, because it remains the most dangerous of the historic challenges being faced by the EU," Szijjarto underlined.

"European citizens can use the EP elections to voice their opinion on whether they want to give pro-immigration or anti-immigration forces the opportunity to shape the future of Europe," he explained.

Szijjarto reiterated Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's opinion expressed Thursday, according to which the traditional division in Europe between left and right-wing parties has been replaced with a distinction between parties that are opposed to migration and those that are in favor of it.

Szijjarto also said that parties and leaders who supported immigration were currently in the majority at every level of the European Union's institutions.

"The Hungarian government wants the forces opposed to immigration to gain majority at every level, and the EP elections are the first opportunity to achieve progress in that matter," he said.

"This is a strategic goal in the interest of restoring the security of European citizens and preserving Europe's Christian culture," he stressed.

The Hungarian government views immigration as a security and cultural risk, as opposed to western European EU countries, which see it as a solution to fill the jobs gap in a demographically declining continent.