Hungary sends police officers to work in the Balkans
No country has been able to come up with a more effective alternative to the protection of the external borders, the interior ministry’s parliamentary state secretary said on Tuesday. Therefore, Hungary sends a police contingent to the Balkans.
Hungarian police contingent setting off to the Balkans
Speaking at a farewell ceremony of a Hungarian police contingent setting off to work in Serbia and on the Bulgaria-Türkiye border, Bence Rétvári said Hungary’s border protection efforts were setting an example of cooperation in the interest of protecting people and combatting illegal migration.
“It’s clear that the emergence of migration in Europe also brought with it more crime, but in Hungary, the number of crimes committed is down significantly over the last decade and a half,” the state secretary said.
“If we hadn’t built a fence, if we hadn’t protected the southern border, we’d be facing similar dangers to what western Europe is seeing, where crime in big cities is way up compared to earlier, partly as a result of migration,” Rétvári said.
Illegal migration has a negative impact
The state secretary emphasised the importance of helping those in need, “by taking help over there, not bringing trouble over here”. Illegal migration had a negative impact on European public safety, he said, underlining the importance of the mission the Hungarian officers are taking part in.
“It is also thanks to these efforts that Hungarians feel safe,” Rétvári said, citing international surveys indicating that Hungarians felt the safest. Hungary and Budapest, he added, were among the safest countries and capitals in Europe, and Hungary was among the 20 safest countries in the world.
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Featured image: illustration