Orbán’s cabinet decides to extend state of emergency with relation to immigration

“On the recommendation of the Minister of Interior, the Hungarian government has decided to extend the state of emergency declared because of mass immigration by six months, until 7 March 2018”, Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács informed Hungarian news agency MTI in the recess of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.

Mr. Kovács pointed out that at last week’s cabinet meeting, Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér had recommended that the state of emergency, which was due to expire on 7 September, should be extended.

The Government Spokesperson highlighted: “During the summer it was proven that the threat of terrorism in Europe has increased as a result of mass immigration, and accordingly strict border controls continue to be necessary in the interests of the security of the Hungarian people”.

Mr. Kovács also told the press that during its meeting on Wednesday, the Cabinet had reviewed the most recent developments in the proceedings launched by the European Commission with relation to the rule of law in Poland, and determined that Poland is a victim of double standards.

“The Hungarian Government is critical of the European Commission’s decision, because it has been proven clearly that in practice the member states of the European Union are not judged according to equal terms”, he said.

“The Government of Hungary rejects the application of double standards on principle, and calls on the Commission to be the protector of the treaties in accordance with its mandate, and stop dealing with political issues”, the Government Spokesperson said.

As we wrote yesterday, Hungary must identify, screen and detain any terrorist suspect from the European Union, and efforts must concentrate on averting a terrorist attack, not only from the east, but from the west, too, a government official has said. Pál Völner, parliamentary state secretary for justice, said that given the spread of terrorist attacks in western Europe, Hungarian law enforcement must be ready to catch terrorist suspects from the EU.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI/kormany.hu