Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister György Bakondi has pointed out that the migration pressure in Europe is expected to continue this year, but the Government of Hungary will do everything in its power to protect Hungarian borders.
Summing up the migration-related experiences of last year, Mr. Bakondi told a press conference in Budapest that 1.5 million illegal migrants arrived in Europe in 2015; 400 000 of them passed through Hungary. He highlighted that an increasing number of people linked to the Islamic State terror organisation are among them, as a result of which European citizens’ aversion to migration could increase.
Mr. Bakondi confirmed that Hungary will do everything possible to reject the European quota system aimed at distributing migrants who are arriving in an uncontrolled manner and who therefore pose potential threats. He said that the EU gave a belated and wrong-headed reaction to mass migration –unlike the Government of Hungary, whose measures have proved to be successful.
According to Mr. Bakondi, the Government of Hungary – without the support of the opposition – has enacted all the financial and legal measures needed to deal with the problem. He also said that with the Visegrád countries Hungary wishes to continue cooperation aimed at protecting the Schengen borders. The cooperation of the Visegrád Group also shows that if Brussels were truly committed, it could successfully protect the borders of the EU against migrants who pose potential security, health, economic, social and political risks.
At the press conference, Mr. Bakondi thanked police officers and soldiers who have been protecting the borders. He pointed out that while between 2010 and 2014 the number of people crossing the border illegally was under fifty thousand, last year this number totalled four hundred thousand. These migrants arrived from around 100 different countries; the largest proportion (numbering 158 000) claimed to be Syrian, and 73 000 said they were from Afghanistan. In 36 000 cases, the nationality of those arriving could not be determined.
Responding to a question, he said that migration pressure could be noticeably eased by successfully carrying out cooperation between the EU and Turkey and protecting the Greek border effectively. Responding to further questions, Mr. Bakondi said that, following the complete closure of the Slovenian green border, one of the migrants’ new routes may shift towards Romania. He pointed out that Romania seems to be committed to protecting its borders. If migrants do occur in large numbers at the Hungarian-Romanian border, the Government of Hungary would be ready to introduce measures similar to those at the southern border.
Mr. Bakondi added that Hungary is not in possession of any information which might warrant the increase of the terror threat level, which is currently “medium”.