Commission on legal border barrier begins work in Hungary

“The commission investigating all aspects of the legal border barrier has begun work, as agreed upon by the European Commission and Hungary’s Minister of Interior and Minister of Justice”, Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister György Bakondi said on M1 Hungarian television on Tuesday.

Mr. Bakondi stressed: refugees are not being detained in any way in transit zones, which can only be entered by people who would like to legally request asylum in Hungary. Asylum requests are assessed on site, during which time applicants may remain in the transit zone. If they change their mind, however, they are free to leave the transit zone at any time and return to the country they arrived from (Serbia), meaning the system can in no way be regarded as detention.

The right to request asylum had been regularly abused in recent years and asylum seekers have often left open camps, and this was the “loophole” that Hungarian legislators aimed to close with the new regulations, he said, adding that the new legislation does impose a restriction in the sense that people no longer have the opportunity to enter Hungary illegally.

The Chief Security Advisor also spoke about illegal immigration on Kossuth Radio’s “180 Minutes” program, explaining that there is no significant increase in the number of illegal immigrants, but Hungary is continuing to take all the required security measures in this “relatively quiet” period.

Photo: MTI

Source: Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI