Hungarian governments expects disputes to escalate over migration

The Hungarian government expects disputes to escalate with the European Union over the next six months on the question of EU and member state competences on the issue of migration, the government office chief said on Thursday.

János Lázár told a weekly press briefing that US billionaire George Soros wanted migration to be regulated by the EU rather than member states.

He said Soros’ proposal was for Europe to take in one million migrants a year and for migrants to be distributed among member states under a mandatory redistribution scheme. The proposal also involves making the regulation of migration an EU competence, he added.

Lázár said this position was “unacceptable” for the Hungarian government and the 1.7 million people who had taken part in its “national consultation” survey.

Hungary’s stance is to “stop migration rather than organise it”, he said.

Lázár said that political programmes requiring Hungary to transfer a new slate of competences to Brussels would likely emerge.

He said migration would be the focus of the EU summit to be held later this month. Citing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s outline of the agenda of the summit, Lázár said the government was expecting an intense debate on migration at the European Council meeting.

The Hungarian government does not see migration as a solution to Europe’s problems, he said, adding that migration and migrants posed a security risk, among other types of risks, to the continent. The government, however, agrees that all European countries have a humanitarian duty to help those facing persecution, he said, adding that the government is distributing financial aid to countries in which this is a problem.

He reiterated that Hungary would not take in migrants based on the EU’s migrant redistribution scheme, adding that it was not the only country refusing to take part in the scheme.

As regards Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, Lázár said Interior Minister Sándor Pintér had briefed the government on Monday’s terrorist attacks in London, which he said had confirmed in the government’s view that terrorism and migration “are inseparable”.

Source: MTI