Hungarian interior minister visits local transit zone -Photos

Tompa, April 6 (MTI) – Hungary complies with all EU regulations regarding the protection of external borders, Interior Minister Sándor Pintér told a press briefing on Thursday in Tompa, near the Hungarian-Serbian border.

Speaking after a visit to the local transit zone housing asylum seekers, Pintér said that the protection of the passport-free Schengen area’s external borders was an EU expectation. The goal is that no one should cross the border unchecked, Pinter said.

Those crossing the border illegally will be granted decent conditions in transit zones at Tompa and Röszke, outside the south borders of Hungary, he said. The two transit zones can accommodate 250 people each. Migrants can wait for the assessment of their applications there, he said. They are not detained, all asylum seekers are free to leave towards Serbia, the minister said, but added that Serbian authorities are “in a difficult situation”; with 7-10,000 illegal migrants already in the country, Serbia is reluctant to accommodate more.

Over 900 applications were processed last year, and more than 80 people received international protection in 2017, Pintér said.