Hungary does not support any proposal which is aimed at the transportation of migrants across its sealed border sections, Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács said at his press conference held in Budapest on Wednesday.

The Government Spokesperson said that the commanders of the Hungarian, Croatian, Austrian and Slovenian police forces agreed at their meeting held on Wednesday in Vienna that the task posed by the flood of migration may be resolved through the reinforcement of the Turkish-Greek border and the setting up of international border guarding forces.

Naturally, this also necessitates willingness on the part of the Greeks and the Turks, he added.

The Government Spokesperson pointed out: Hungary made it perfectly clear already upon the preparations for the consultation that it does not support any proposal which is aimed at providing an option for the transportation of migrants across the sealed border sections in its southern territories and within the Schengen borders. The police commanders did not even entertain this idea at the consultation, Mr Kovács remarked.

Photo: Tamás Griechisch

He said that the police chiefs came to the conclusion regarding the registration points that the hot spots must be sealed in the direction of the European Union; in other words, only those may proceed towards the EU about whom the authorities have successfully ascertained that they are indeed persecuted. The registration points must remain open in the other direction.

Mr Kovács highlighted: Hungary is open to cooperation, and is ready to take its share in the re-transportation of the hundreds of thousands of migrants whose asylum claims have been refused.

He further stated that Hungary has in recent months spent more than EUR 250 million on the protection of its borders.