Orbán’s advisor: Public survey needed because Brussels, Budapest disagree on migration

Budapest (MTI) – The prime minister’s security advisor has said Hungary’s forthcoming national consultation, a survey of citizens on a range of issues including mass illegal migration, is necessary because the public will have the chance to give their opinion on the government’s migration policy and signal its opposition to demands made by Brussels.

György Bakondi told a news conference on Friday that the European Parliament on April 5 approved a position on the issue of asylum seekers and migrants with 90 points, including the principle of showing solidarity, providing a common response and integrating migrants, educating them and giving them jobs. It further calls on societies to show flexibility and acceptance of migrants, among other demands.

He said none accord with Hungarian government policies, and this is why the national consultation is especially relevant.

Bakondi said there were six ways in which the threats associated with migration would grow in the future. He said the sealed border would come under continuous attack, the influx of migrants would grow, internal EU border controls would permanently damage the Schengen agreement, and as a result of the European Union’s quota system, 40,000 refugees would be returned to Hungary “as part of the migration business of litigation”.

Photo: MTI

The security advisor said so far 371 people had crossed the border illegally as opposed to 18,000 during the same period last year. Of those, 250 had been apprehended inside the country. Ever since March 28, when Hungary’s stricter new laws entered force, there were 83 attempts to cross the country’s southern border, he said. Of those, 29 were directly thwarted and 54 people were caught and accompanied back to the other side of the border, he added.

The transit zones in Röszke and Tompa are now host to 99 people, while the orphanage in Fót is home to 21 unaccompanied minors, he said.

Bakondi said there had been several objections made that the refugee authority had not examined individual requests for asylum. He insisted, however, that this did not reflect reality: in every case requests have been examined — in transit zones too — to ensure that the applicant is not exposed to persecution upon their departure or in transit countries.

Source: MTI