PM Viktor Orbán: Hungary among best-protected EU states from migration

Budapest, March 4 (MTI) – Hungary was the first nation state that took action independently to handle illegal migration and it is still among the best-protected EU states, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday.

Individual countries taking action independently is better than the European Community staying idle, Orbán told public radio Kossuth. Orbán said all the costs of protecting Hungary from migrants have been paid from domestic resources and the EU has not contributed to this. He reiterated that Hungary would not allow migrants to enter without control.

“There will be no breaking through the fence here, no migrant revolts, refugee camps set on fire, or gangs preying on Hungarian women, our wives and daughters,” he said. He added that he had instructed Interior Minister Sándor Pintér that if there is any sign of such activity it must be prevented at the earliest stage and it must be retaliated.

Commenting on efforts to seal Hungary’s border from illegal entrants, he said the physical barriers have proved successful but the fence system must be further strengthened and expanded. Preparations need to be made on the Hungarian-Romanian border, and “we must be able to physically protect” the border on its entire length if there is trouble, he added.

He said he was baffled by Greece’s decision to tolerate millions of uncontrolled entrants from Turkey. It is also impossible to understand why the Greek transferred the migrants from the islands to the main land, he added. Greece has violated the Schengen treaty, yet “some people”, for instance the Germans, kept defending them, Orbán said.

Commenting on a proposal about euro zone countries developing a common policy that only applies to them, he said this is “not a problem for tomorrow” but some serious decisions are ahead that non-euro zone countries like Hungary will have to address.

In response to a question about the upcoming parliamentary elections in Slovakia this weekend, Orbán said alliance with a stable and well-balanced Slovakia would give Hungary “a good opportunity for joint representation in Europe”.

When asked if subsidies would be increased after the Hungarian “Son of Saul” won the Best Foreign Film Oscar on Sunday, he said state support for Hungary’s film industry has plateaued under the revamped subsidy system. “The Hungarian film industry has received such a high level of support in the recent period that it can’t get any higher,” Orbán said. He added that the government had taken over a film subsidy system that was in “total legal and financial chaos” when it came to power in 2010. Since then, the system has been transformed thanks to the work of the Hungarian National Film Fund and the government’s film industry commissioner Andy Vajna, “one of the bravest Hungarians”, he added.

Orbán noted that Hungarian films made under the new subsidy system had won more than 130 prizes and congratulated the director and crew of the Oscar-winning “Son of Saul”.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters