Hungary free of extremism, says interior minister

Public order and security in Hungary are “solid” and the country is “free from extremism”, Sándor Pintér, the interior minister, said, briefing a meeting of parliament’s National Security Committee on Tuesday.

There are no no-go zones in any city or locality in Hungary, he said.

Pintér spoke highly of his ministry’s legislative work and said that in 2019 they had submitted 9 drafts and made proposals for 33 government decrees.

Commenting on the work of Hungary’s secret services in 2019, Pintér said the Office for the Protection of the Constitution had increased inspections related to national security by an annual 14 percent, and 12,000 such inspections were carried out.

The Counter-Terrorism Centre apprehended 232 people in 184 operations in 2019 without having to use weapons, he noted.

The minister also said

Hungary had been removed from the list of countries suspected of corruption thanks to the activities of the National Defence Service and growing civic discipline.

Pintér told the committee of defence and law enforcement that a public survey carried out last year showed that 73 percent of Hungarians trusted the work of police. This was higher than trust in the prosecutor’s office, the courts and even parliament, he added.

He also said that the number of reported crimes dropped by 26,000 over a year to 160,000 in 2019, representing a 62 percent drop from 2010. The rate of success for investigations fell from 68 percent over 12 months to 66 percent last year but it was still 20 percent higher than in 2010, he added.

Pintér said

prisons were 120 percent full last year but this has been successfully lowered to 95-96 percent this year.

He said the National Directorate General for Aliens Policing assessed some 150,000 immigration requests last year and in-depth controls were introduced to prevent illegal migration.

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