Hungary Does Not Agree with Uncontrolled Opening of Borders

At the moment, human smugglers are deciding who will become EU citizens, which is quite unprecedented, the Prime Minister’s chief advisor on internal security told public television M1 news channel. György Bakondi stressed that currently, a criminal network decides how people can enter Europe, at what time, and for how much money, and the European authorities have failed to take adequate action against this since 2015.

According to the advisor, there have been attempts to stop illegal immigrants, for example by the Italian government. However, he added that when it comes to sea routes, “rescue from the water” is invoked as an important human right – which it is – but rescue does not directly mean political asylum in Europe- there is no such legislation. It should always be a matter of returning those rescued to the nearest shore, György Bakondi emphasized.

On the Balkan route, which concerns Hungary more directly, illegal migrants experiment with other methods: they throw away or destroy documents so that their identities cannot be established.

As a result, it is not easy to establish their possible criminal or terrorist past, or the fact that they have been in Europe illegally before, he added.

The chief advisor stressed that Hungary has been fighting a very difficult battle to protect its borders and the borders of the European Union since 2015, and that “we have not received much help” from the EU in recent years. “Rather, we have received criticism and political attacks, and after contradictory statements, we are even facing fines from the European Court of Justice over Hungary’s migration policy,” he said.

According to Bakondi,

there would be no obstacle to Germany, France, or Sweden – if they need labor – making migration legal and allowing people to enter their own countries for work purposes on the basis of documents and after due screening at their embassies.

However, Hungary still does not agree with the uncontrolled opening of borders and the distribution of migrants according to quotas, and this is one of the reasons why Hungary is regularly under political attack and pressure.

Bakondi also said that at the level of nation-states, border management is a complex task, well coordinated by the authorities, while at the level of the European Union “there is a lack of political will.” Moreover, the statements that seem to indicate a change in recent weeks are, in his opinion, more about the upcoming EU elections than about a systemic change in border management. What could change the perception of illegal migration, he said, is that in countries where large influxes of illegal migrants are posing a serious threat to public safety, the public reaction could sooner or later lead to political changes.

Featured photo via Police.hu