Head of PM’s Office: Hungary’s sovereignty, security top priorities

The fight against illegal migration needs to be completed with criminal measures, while the Hungarian constitution requires an amendment stipulating that foreign nationals cannot be settled in the country, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said on Tuesday.

“For us Hungary comes first, and protecting the sovereignty and security of the country follows from that,” Gulyás told a news conference in connection with the “Stop Soros” bill and draft changes to the constitution now before parliament.

He said the government still believes the organisation and financing of illegal migration should be criminalised.

Gulyás said that because of the government’s proposals to tighten the laws on migration, it was facing a growing number of “attacks” from abroad. He said the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR “did the best job”, noting that it had released a statement protesting against the government’s bills just two hours after they were submitted last week.

Gulyás said it was “obvious” that US financier George Soros would “continue lobbying” against Hungary over the coming period, but voiced hope that Hungary was strong enough to prevent Soros’s activities from affecting Hungary and Europe’s migration policies.

On the subject of the European Union’s migrant quota plans, Gulyás said the government would make efforts to prevent the adoption of mandatory quotas at an upcoming EU summit. If necessary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will veto such a decision, he said. Gulyás added that recent remarks by German Chancellor Angela Merkel were “clearly encouraging” on the matter, noting that she had conceded that the EU’s migrant redistribution scheme had been unsuccessful.

Asked about the compatibility of the government’s constitutional amendment proposal with EU law, Gulyás said the proposal did not contradict EU law, only “Brussels’s approach to migration”.