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Keeping migrants in custody not equal to detention, says Orbán in Brussles
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Brussels, March 10 (MTI) – Keeping migrants in custody while their asylum request is being assessed is not the same as detaining them because they are free to leave for Serbia at any time, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday.
European Union leaders did not raise objections against the new Hungarian regulations at talks about the new migration rules because Hungary’s regulations are the same as those also urged by Germany and Austria, Orbán told a press conference after a summit meeting of EU heads of state and government in Brussels.
Under the new regulations, no migrants can arrive in Germany from Hungary’s territory or move around Europe without making the reason for their entry into the European Union clear, Orbán added.
Hungary’s position is consistent and meets the interests of both Austria and Germany, Orbán said, arguing that the separation of asylum-seekers and economic migrants can only be completed in a legal procedure outside the European Union’s territory.
Orbán hailed it as a “success” that leaders of the other EU member states understood the aim of the new Hungarian regulation.
“How far we will be able to go with bureaucrats in Brussels is a different story,” Orbán said, referring to objections they would direct to Hungary and their powers forcing the member states to change their regulations. “We still have a battle to wage,” he said.