Orbán: Second border fence can keep out largest of migrant crowds

Budapest, March 17 (MTI) – The second fence to be built on Hungary’s border will be able to keep out the largest of migrant crowds arriving from the direction of Turkey, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday.

“The people of Austria and Germany can sleep sound because the Hungarians will protect Europe’s external borders,” Orbán told public Kossuth Radio.

The prime minister reacted to Turkey’s partial suspension of its migration deal with the European Union.

Orbán noted that he had argued earlier that the EU must reach an agreement with Turkey, adding, at the same time, that “putting our security solely in their [Turkey’s] hands” was “not a smart policy”.

“Putting our security in the hands of Turkey while we constantly pester, attack and criticise them” is even less smart, he added.

Orbán said he did not consider Turkey to be blameless in the dispute with the EU, but added that Europe’s attitude did not seem harmonious considering that it looks to Turkey for security.

Orbán said this was why he had earlier called for building fences “with full force” while the deal with Turkey was in place. Because if the EU-Turkey deal “slips away” Europe will be right back where it started, the prime minister added.

On the topic of Hungary’s recent tightening of its asylum rules, Orban said he had laid out the changes to his European counterparts at the last EU summit in Brussels. The essence of the new legislation is that asylum seekers must remain in the transit zones set up on the border until their cases are ruled on, he noted.

“This does not constitute detention,” he said, arguing that migrants have the option of turning back to Serbia whenever they want.

“The prime ministers acknowledged what I had told them without making a single remark,” Orbán said, adding that Hungary is actually abiding by a European regulation with the new legislation while protecting the interests of the more prosperous western European countries.