The model section of the temporary security border control fence in the non-residential area of the locality of Mórahalom is under construction.
Hungary and the European Union are facing illegal migration as an increasingly serious security challenge, given the fact that a flood of illegal migrants arrive in Europe, including Hungary year after year. Following from its geopolitical and economic situation, Hungary is a transit country at present; however, it is expected to become a target country over time.
The number of illegal migrants has increased significantly on Hungary’s southern border, on the Hungarian-Serbian border section. The Hungarian authorities have to date apprehended 81,333 illegal border-crossers in 2015, 80,724 of them have arrived in Hungary via the Serbian border. The police have apprehended 579 persons due to human trafficking.
A part of Hungary’s borders is also the exterior border of the European Union which involves responsibilities related to the administration of the Schengen area’s exterior border section. The protection of the border and border control is not only an interest of the Schengen member states which themselves perform the duties of border control but that of all member states, on the interior borders of which border control has been terminated. Consequently, Hungary does not only patrol its borders for itself but also with a view to the best interests of the rest of the Schengen countries.
In the interest of managing the extreme migration pressure, the Government adopted a decision on 17 June 2015 in which it provided for the construction of a temporary security border fence on a section of 175 kilometres for border control purposes in order to terminate free access via the green border.
Parliament passed the law on 6 July 2015 which grants the Hungarian State a right of use out of public interest in respect of the border sections which do not come under the Schengen Agreement to take these sections under extraordinary protection and to build a temporary security fence thereon.
The competent agencies of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defence began the construction of a 150-metre-long model section on 13 July 2015.
The Hungarian Defence Force are carrying out the construction works in the designated border zone in the non-residential area of the locality of Mórahalom with police surveillance. The officers of the 5th Bocskai István Rifle Brigade, the 37th Rákóczi Ferenc Technical Regiment and the 86th Szolnok Helicopter Base are participating in the assignment, some 46 persons in total.
After an inspection of the site, the terrain works – felling of trees, clearing of undergrowth, soil works, road construction – necessary for the commencement of the construction of the temporary security border fence to be erected for border control purposes were carried out. To this end, the units deployed used caterpillar-tracked bulldozers and universal earth-moving machinery. The model section is being built with 4 different technical contents. The soldiers have all technical equipment and expertise at their disposal which may be necessary for the construction of the security border fence.
The National Penal Enforcement Headquarters supply and transport to the site the materials necessary for the border fence, including the wooden and metal fence elements and the various items of wiring. The inmates of penal institutions manufacture and process the materials required for the security border fence.
The structure of the model section is 150 metres long, within which the wire fence is fixed onto wooden poles on a section of 25 metres and onto metal poles on a section of 125 metres. The poles are installed at a distance of between 2.5 and 10 metres from the state border. NATO wire is being used to support the defence system of the border fence.
Following the construction of the model section, the construction works in respect of the entire temporary security border fence will begin in multiple locations simultaneously.