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All three European migration routes active, says Orbán’s advisor
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All three major European migration routes are currently active, the prime minister’s chief domestic security advisor said on Thursday.
Speaking at a press conference, György Bakondi said it was clear that there is an increasingly strong migrant presence in Europe.
He said this indicated that scenarios concerning the integration of migrants into European society had failed, adding that Europeans were also expressing increasingly negative opinions about migrants.
The Hungarian government is consistent in its position that border patrol is a fundamental security criterion, Bakondi said, and stressed that only people who have been properly screened could be allowed into the European Union‘s territory. Further, the problems which are the root causes of migration should be dealt with where they arise, he added.
He noted the government’s position opposing the relocation of migrants within the EU and calls to open the bloc’s borders.
As regards the three major migration routes, Bakondi said recent reports about the Balkans route indicated that there are currently 3.5 million Syrian citizens in Turkey of whom 31 percent work while 42 percent would be ready to set off for Europe immediately.
Greece, which currently has 62,400 registered migrants, receives a daily average of 70-73 migrants from Turkey, he said. Macedonia has around 200 migrants compared with Serbia’s 5,500 of whom 600 are staying near the Hungarian border. There are some 2,300 migrants stranded in Bulgaria, while Romanian police apprehended 2,500 illegal entrants in the first half of the year, he added. Bakondi said there were around 600 migrants stranded in Croatia and around 270 in Slovenia.
Concerning Hungary, he said a total of 19,000 people attempted to enter the country illegally last year. There were altogether 7,300 attempts at illegal entry into Hungary between the beginning of this year and March 28 when the country’s tightened asylum rules came into effect, he added. A further 4,200 people tried to enter Hungary illegally over the remainder of the first half of the year, he said.