PM party files complaint with prosecutor over govt’s migration crisis declaration

Budapest (MTI) – The opposition Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party has filed a complaint with the chief public prosecutor over the government’s recent “declaration of a migration crisis without any legal ground.”

As “someone within [Viktor] Orbán’s government has obviously abused his office,” the party expects Péter Polt, the chief public prosecutor, to start an investigation without delay, it said in a statement.

With this move, the government seeks to divert attention from the teachers’ demonstration scheduled for the national holiday of March 15 and from the collapse of health care and education, it said.

PM said that by declaring a nationwide migration crisis, the government has violated a law enacted during its own term. Under the law passed last September, a state of migration crisis can be declared if the number of asylum seekers reaches a daily average of 500 over a month, the number of migrants in transit zones exceeds a daily average of 1,000 for a month, if migration has direct ramifications for public safety, health or order in any locality.

Citing official statistics, PM said that in the month of February 2,175 people applied for asylum, the existing four transit zones could not accommodate 1,000 migrants in all and the government “has not informed the public about the cited dangers anywhere”.

In response, ruling Fidesz said that the migration crisis had been declared in preparation for another wave of illegal migrants that might be triggered by the recent closure of borders in the Balkan states. “There are palpable signs of such a threat,” it said, referring to a recent increase in border violations.

By strengthening the border forces and declaring a migration crisis, the government has prepared for defending Hungary’s borders and its population, Fidesz said.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters