At a press conference in Tatabánya on Tuesday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that all forms of terror must be opposed and combatted. Referring to the attacks in Brussels, he said that a stand must be taken against terrorists.
The Prime Minister said that the lesson to be drawn from the morning’s events is that cooperation between Europe’s security organisations must be strengthened.
Mr. Orbán said that so far the Government knows of two Hungarian citizens who were injured in the attacks. One of them suffered minor injuries and was taken to hospital.
On behalf of Hungary the Prime Minister expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.
He also reiterated the announcement made by Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér earlier in the day: due to the events in Brussels, the terror alert level in Hungary has been temporarily increased to Level II. The entire staff of the Counter Terrorism Organisation (TEK) has been put on alert.
“These are precautionary measures. As soon as the full picture emerges in communication with Brussels and all information has been reliably confirmed, we will be able to decide whether we need to extend the current temporary Level II terror alert”, the Prime Minister said.
As of 14.30 CET, 34 people were reported to have been killed and dozens more injured in explosions at Brussels Airport in Zaventem and at Maelbeek metro station in central Brussels.