Orbán: Hungary won’t give up border control rights

The Hungarian government will not give up its right to control the country’s borders, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in his address at the opening of parliament’s autumn season on Monday.

“We will not allow anyone to take away one iota of our border control rights,” Orbán said, adding that “we have more skill in controlling the border than anyone in Brussels or in any international organisation”.

The prime minister said he will fight for Hungary’s border control rights at this week’s European Union summit in Salzburg.

He said Hungary had proven that it is capable of protecting its borders.

Orbán insisted that Hungary’s border guards were “not only professionals but patriots”, who had taken an oath to protect the country and “this is something money cannot buy”.

He added that “Brussels does not aim to protect the European Union’s borders but to set up a reception service to manage immigration rather than to stop it.”

“They want the keys to the gate,” he insisted.

“Hungary is neither a passageway nor refugee camp; if we wanted to mix with other cultures or civilisations we would hold consultations first,” Orbán said. He added that he would “not advocate that idea to the Hungarian people”.

Orbán said immigration would be the number one issue in next year’s European parliamentary elections. In this respect, European politicians have split into two factions: those in favour of immigration and those opposing it, he said.

Hungary is under attack because it has decided that it does not want to become “an immigrant country”, he insisted.

He said in connection with the elections that it was “just about time for the current European elite to go”, arguing that they had “failed to keep Britain inside the European Union and migrants out”.

Immigration and the “migrant invasion” is not a partisan matter but a priority for the nation, Orbán said. Hungary shows solidarity towards all anti-immigration governments, regardless of its partisan make-up, he added.

The prime minister said he agreed with the EU proposal to strengthen the protection of the bloc’s borders, provided that countries not strong enough to protect their frontiers will be given help.

“But it isn’t right that they want to take away our right to protect our borders and have Brussels control Hungary’s border protection,” he said.