Orbán cabinet: Europe must respect people’s will on migration

All European countries must heed the will of their people on handling illegal migration, the government spokesman said on Thursday.

Addressing a news conference, Zoltán Kovács noted that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is scheduled to attend a European Union summit later today where EU leaders will discuss matters such as illegal migration, the bloc’s next budget, Brexit, EU-Russia relations and the unfolding trade war with the United States.

Recent measures imposed by Hungary allow the government to continue to take a firm stance on migration, Kovács said. He called Hungary’s migration policy “perhaps Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government’s most consistent position of the past three years”.

The Hungarian government’s position has consistently been that illegal migration must be stopped and Europe’s borders protected, Kovács noted. Those who enter Europe illegally must be sent back to their home countries, he added.

Any European solution to the migration issue must rest on the will of the European people,

Kovács said. And public opinion indicates that — like Hungarians — Europeans believe migration should be stopped and the continent’s borders protected, he said.

Any other solution that includes mechanisms or quotas for the redistribution of migrants across the EU or would violate the sovereignty of member states is “out of the question”, he said. Hungary has demonstrated that it is possible to combat illegal migration, Kovács added.

Asked about the government’s plans to impose a hiring freeze in public administration, Kovács said the government had made it clear over the past several years that it intends to cut red tape in the sector. This means maintaining a steady headcount, he added.