Hungary was compelled to change its legal system in an emergency in order to be able to face the unprecedented migration pressure which is currently afflicting the European Union; however, we did so in harmony with the international legal norms, in the interest of ensuring compliance with the Schengen Agreement prescribing the protection of the borders and the Dublin Regulations which require the registration of refugees, Minister of Justice László Trócsányi wrote in response to the criticisms levelled at Hungary in connection with the migration crisis in a letter published on the website of the French daily Le Figaro on 30 September 2015.
The Minister reiterated that over 200,000 migrants have entered the country since the beginning of the year, and 170,000 of them have submitted asylum claims, even though they are perfectly free to leave and disappear as their real destination is Germany, the Scandinavian countries, France or Britain. In Hungary – which is “a poor country” in their own words – they openly voice their dissatisfaction which, in the Minister’s view, “manifested itself in the mediatised disturbances in the heart of Budapest”.
The vast majority of migrants cross the border illegally and travel in groups in order to prevent the police from detaining and registering them in accordance with the relevant European norms, the Minister pointed out. “It is not the intention of these people to seek asylum in Hungary but to invisibly transit the country on the way to Germany, even though their lives were no longer in danger in Greece, Macedonia, Serbia or Hungary. We have also experienced a surprising and unprecedented lack of cooperation on an astonishing scale on the part of migrants who did not hesitate to resort to violence against the Hungarian police by abusing their dominance in numbers”, Mr Trócsányi pointed out.
The Minister refuted any analogy to Hungarian refugees in 1956. He highlighted that at that time the Hungarians who fled their country awaited the decision regarding their future in refugee camps in the neighbouring countries – where they were no longer in danger –, in cooperation with the authorities, and they were happy to start a new life in any country they were sent to. “The present flood of migration is following a completely different logic; any analogy in this vein is lacking in authenticity and is an insult to the Hungarians who were forced to flee from their country in 1956”, he said.
Mr Trócsányi highlighted that Hungary erected the fence on the Serbian border with a heavy heart, in response to an emergency, similar to the fences erected in Spain, Bulgaria or in Calais in France, and those who criticised the Hungarian fence were unable to explain why the Hungarian border fence is any more illegal or disturbing than the fences erected earlier.
The Minister likened the legislative amendment passed with a view to the deployability of the military to the terror alert in France, as part of which they mobilised the army. “Our French friends decided that there is a threat of terrorism, and that they are to face it with means which are adequate in the light of the level of the threat. Hungary is doing the same thing”, Mr Trócsányi wrote.
The Minister also refuted accusations which called the independence of the Hungarian judiciary into question. He mentioned as an example the decision which invalidated the administrative refusal of an asylum claim.