Hungarian government official: EU borders under siege, migration growing

Migration into Europe was up 17 percent last year compared with 2022, with the European Union seeing some 380,000 illegal entry attempts, György Bakondi, the prime minister’s chief domestic security advisor, said on Friday.

Migration pressure increased along routes going through Spain, Italy and the Balkans last year, Bakondi told public current affairs channel M1.

He said the situation on Hungary’s border was deteriorating, with certain areas on the Serbian side having been “controlled by Afghan crime gangs” by the third quarter of 2023. Migrants even fired at Hungarian police officers “hundreds of times” last year, he added.

Meanwhile, Bakondi noted, the EU had approved a migration pact and was mandating resettlement quotas. Also, contrary to the practice followed by Hungary so far, asylum applications are no longer assessed outside the EU’s territory, leading to the possible establishment of migrant camps within the bloc, he warned.

He said the EU was attempting to blackmail Hungary by withholding funds from the country until it changed its migration policy and child protection regulations.

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