Hungary’s standpoint: the EU is the victim of migration not the cause of it

Hungary shares the standpoint according to which the European Union is the victim of migration and not the cause of it, in the sense that it must consider how the situation should be handled and dealt with, Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács said in an interview with TV channel M1 on Monday morning, hirado.hu reported.

Hungary’s view on illegal immigration is not drastically different from the position of the European Union as the Hungarian Government itself believes that the problem of migration should be treated at its root. Kovács added that at every international forum, the Hungarian government has been advocating the standpoint that it is the reason for the refugees’ departure that should be abolished in Sub-Saharan Africa and in the Middle East – although this is not an easy task to accomplish.

In connection with the recently launched national consultation, the government spokesperson noted that in February much had already been said about the need to discuss the issue of immigration and that of illegal migrants.

He emphasized: “This dialogue is necessary not because we reject these people, but rather because in order to be able to tackle the problem, new EU and member state measures are needed.”

Talking about the continuous increase of flow of refugees witnessed over the last one and a half years, Kovács said that Europe – and within it Hungary – had been facing with a problem to which its responses were seemingly inadequate. There is no community regulation in place which could preclude the massive number of immigrants arriving from outside Europe, and up until the EU summit held last Thursday even the basic conditions had been missing which could have prevented these people from setting sail for Europe from North Africa, he added.

Earlier, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told Kossuth Rádió that Europe must protect its borders, and enforce serious police and military measures to this effect. The prime minister said that it was not enough to defend the borders of Europe, but policies must be put in place to help stoke a desire in potential refugees to stay in their homelands.

based on the article hirado.hu
translated by Gábor Hajnal

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters