“The successful Hungarian border control measures introduced last year have proven that a successful migration policy cannot be implemented without the protection of Europe’s external borders”, the Prime Minister’s chief advisor on homeland security declared at a press conference in Budapest on Saturday.
György Bakondi once again stressed that he expects a continuation of the wave of illegal migration in 2016 and accordingly will continue to do everything possible to protect Hungary.
According to the chief security advisor, the European Union has made unsuccessful attempts to handle the problem of migration and the agreement signed with Turkey has had no effect either. Resettlement quotas also do not provide a solution as they contradict EU law and represent a high security risk, which could even endanger the future of both the European Union and its member nation states, he explained.
The wave of migration must primarily be halted at the Bulgarian and Macedonian borders, he added.
Mr. Bakondi reminded the press that over 1.5 million migrants arrived in Europe last year, which is equal to the population of Estonia. With reference to the Hungarian situation, he said that while only a little more than three thousand illegal immigrants had entered Hungary in 2010, their number had increased to 44 thousand in 2014 and over 391 thousand in 2015. He also recalled that 177 thousand people asked for asylum prior to the construction of the border security fence, of whom 152 thousand left the country before their asylum proceedings were concluded, while 3 thousand requests were rejected and 2600 people were expelled. Hungary recognised 146 asylum seekers as refugees and 356 received protected status.
748 illegal immigrants were detained last year following the deployment of the border security fence in mid-September, and a further 104 this year so far, the chief advisor said, adding that these numbers clearly indicate that the refugee crisis cannot be handled without reinforcing border security.
In reply to a question, Mr. Bakondi said that 180 police officers had to be deployed to restore order after fighting broke out at the refugee camp in Kiskunhalas on Friday.
A brawl over internet use broke out between three men detained pending refugee proceedings and the disturbance quickly escalated. A group of 20-25 detainees began throwing stones at police, two of whom were injured. Armed security and the arriving police quickly managed to resolve the situation and separate the fighting parties.
In reply to another question, Mr. Bakondi said that no exact figure had been established as yet regarding the total cost of the migration crisis, but noted that while last year the Government had twice reassigned 30 billion forints (EUR 95M) for this purpose, additional expenditure of a similar magnitude is not expected to be required this year.