Parliament committee votes to extend migration state of emergency

Budapest, September 2 (MTI) – Parliament’s defence committee has approved extending the state of emergency related to mass migration that had been set to expire on September 9, the parliamentary group leader of ruling Fidesz said on Friday.

Speaking after a meeting of the defence committee, Lajos Kosa told a news conference that the interior ministry had confirmed in a briefing to the committee that it intends to extend the state of emergency for another six months. The motion was approved unanimously by the lawmakers present, Kosa said, adding that the committee’s left-wing representatives had not attended the meeting.

The committee also approved increasing police staff numbers by 3,000 at the southern border.

Interior ministry state secretary Karoly Kontrat told the same news conference that he considers it important that public security should be a national issue and not a matter of party politics. He said the conditions that had called for implementing the measure in the first place had not abated over the past year.

The government first declared a state of emergency related due to mass migration last September after officially criminalising illegal border crossing.

Source: MTI