Security measures that have been in place on the Hungarian border for over seven years, are still only casually debated in Brussels.Continue reading
“The European Union has failed to cope with the migration crisis. Eight years after the crisis, the European Parliament is still discussing the need to increase European solidarity and help with the placement and distribution of immigrants,” Balázs Hidvéghi, MEP of Hungary’s governing Fidesz party said in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
In an EP debate on Tuesday on Italy’s recent declaration of a state of emergency over migration, most MEPs “are still pushing the same bad, tired methods that were proven inadequate to solve the problem years ago,” Balázs Hidvéghi told MTI.
When it is proven that a particular method does not solve a specific problem, it is time to try something new, Hidvéghi said. The fact that the same things are being said eight years after the start of the migration crisis shows that the EU has failed to deal with the migration crisis and has tried the wrong methods in the recent period, he added.
The MEP said that changes to the EU’s ways of managing the problem should start with securing the bloc’s borders. He said it should also be made clear that the EU will not tolerate illegal entry into its territory.
He said most migrants coming to the EU are not refugees, but economic migrants who are “taking advantage of Europe’s weakness and that member states don’t even respect or enforce their laws.” Hidvéghi said the EU should help Italy protect its borders and help member states repatriate migrants. Once borders are protected and laws are respected, the EU can discuss aid to Africa and member states’ national regulation of migration, he said. Hidvéghi said he would propose that the EP on Thursday postpone a vote on its position on a new asylum pact, arguing that several MEPs believe it makes “false assumptions” and “imposes the wrong solutions.”
Featured photo via European Parliament