Jobbik repeats call for stand-alone border guard force

Budapest, January 13 (MTI) – Opposition Jobbik welcomes the recent inauguration of 500 border guards but repeatedly calls for reinstating a separate border guard force, the party’s spokesman said on Friday.

Hungary is the only EU country without a force like that, Adam Mirkoczki told a press conference, noting that Hungary’s Border Guard had been eliminated in 2008.

The Border Guard should consist of at least 8,000 members and patrol Hungary’s EU Schengen border sections, he said.

The first “border hunting” officers took their oath on Thursday at a ceremony addressed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

In response, ruling Fidesz said that Jobbik only “preaches” border protection while it prevented “together with the Socialists and [Democratic Coalition leader Ferenc] Gyurcsány” the passage of a constitutional amendment aimed at banning the forced settlement of migrants in Hungary.

Fidesz noted that the Hungarian government had been the first in Europe to defend the country’s borders, the party said in a statement.

Source: MTI