Orbán cabinet: Hungary to seek compensation for border protection costs from EU

The Hungarian government will request that the European Union compensate the country for costs incurred in protecting the bloc’s external borders, and is ready to sue the EU to that end, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, told a regular press conference on Thursday.

Hungarian border protection

The government has mandated European Affairs Minister János Bóka to conduct talks with the European Commission regarding a ruling against Hungary over its migration policy, Gulyás said.

The government has established lines it “will not and cannot cross” during the negotiations with the EC, Gulyás said. “One of those red lines is the decision the Hungarian people have expressed at a referendum. No one can be settled in Hungary against the will of the Hungarian people,” he said.

The government will continue to protect the borders from illegal migrants, and will offer one-way transport to Brussels for those who are granted asylum, he said.

Gulyás noted that in 2015, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had warned that Schengen would collapse unless Brussels implemented community law, the Schengen Agreement and unless it obligated the countries with external borders to protect those borders effectively. “Migration and Germany are dismantling Schengen”, he said, referring to Germany’s decision to re-introduce border controls.

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