Government: Hungary makes great effort to protect border

Budapest, August 17 (MTI) – Hungary is making arduous effort in protecting its Schengen borders, state secretary Karoly Kontrat said on Monday, in response to claims by the EU’s Frontex organisation that Hungary has stayed away from joint missions.

Hungary was the only country to stay away from two missions on the Mediterranean aimed at reducing migration flow, the daily Magyar Nemzet reported on Monday. Hungary’s national police said it could not take part in the missions because it was busy protecting Hungary’s borders with Serbia, the paper said.

Considering its population and per capita GDP, Hungary bears the largest burden from illegal migration, Kontrat said. While 2,157 illegal entrants came to Hungary in the full year of 2012, just over the past weekend Hungary received 4,532 entrants, he said.

The leftist opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) said Europe has now become aware that Hungary’s hate-mongering prime minister is not interested in reducing migration, nor is he interested in protecting European borders. “Orban has revealed himself,” Zsolt Greczy, the party’s spokesman said, adding that Orban will continue to incite hatred as long as this allows him not to talk about education, public health or corruption.