Speaking to journalists early on Thursday morning after the extraordinary EU summit, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán explained the position he had argued for in the discussions. He said that Hungary has two options: either it protects its green border with a fence, or “if some do not like this”, it also has the option of letting migrants through to Austria and Germany.
“The Austrian chancellor stated in no uncertain terms that if we can only stop them with a fence, we would be better off letting them through”, the Prime Minister informed the press, adding that “this is something we should consider”.
The Prime Minister also said that out of the six Hungarian proposals put forward at the extraordinary summit, the heads of state and government succeeded in coming to an agreement on five issues. Mr Orbán told the press that they failed to agree on the proposal which stated that if Greece is unable to protect its borders, the European Union should do so as part of a joint effort.
The Prime Minister pointed out that “This is a pity, since this is the most important of all the proposals. So in this respect, the external borders of Europe remain unprotected, and illegal migrants continue to pour in through Greece in violation of international conventions”.
The Prime Minister said that he gained the impression that the determination, courage and decisive action that this would require were lacking. “I had the impression that they do not regard this to be as important as we Hungarians do”, Mr Orbán said when speaking of the summit.
The package of proposals the Hungarian prime minister presented in Bavaria on Wednesday suggests – in addition to joint EU surveillance of the Greek border – that refugees must be separated from economic migrants at points outside the Schengen Zone, and that a joint EU list of safe countries should be drawn up.
Additionally, in order to raise new funds, the Prime Minister proposed that each EU Member State should increase its contributions by one per cent, reducing other spending by a corresponding one per cent; this would represent a sum of three billion euros for every one per cent. This exercise, he said, must be repeated as many times as management of the crisis necessitates.
The Prime Minister further proposed the development of key partnerships with those countries without which the situation cannot be managed, making specific mention of Turkey, and additionally suggesting that “relations with Russia should be placed on a new footing”.
As item number six, Mr Orbán proposed the setting up of a so-called global allocation system, so that the whole world can take part in the management of the refugee crisis.