Foreign minister: Complete protection of EU borders only possible if hot spots located outside bloc

The European Union’s external borders can only be protected completely if migrant reception and collection centers known as hot spots are located outside of the bloc, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told public television on Tuesday.

Szijjártó said that Hungary cautiously welcomed the decision to abandon mandatory migrant quotas following the recent European Union summit, noting that the European Council had already once decided the scrap the quotas only for its decision to be overridden by EU interior ministers.

The decision to abandon mandatory migrant quotas is a “victory for the Visegrád countries”, he said, adding that it was a “significant achievement” for the Hungary-led V4 that EU member states would not have to take in migrants from planned hot spots.

Another achievement, he said, was that “the focus of EU politicians has shifted from mandatory quotas to protecting the borders”. Hungary, he added, had urged that shift for the past three years.