Bakondi: Hungary's border protection measures are exemplary
György Bakondi, the prime minister's chief domestic security advisor, stated on Saturday that, despite Hungary's border protection measures being considered 'exemplary' by an increasing number of European countries, the country is instead required to pay a daily fine of one million euros.
Bakondi told public news channel M1 that the fine serves as 'a tool' in efforts to get Hungary to allow migrants to enter its territory.
He said the new German government was also working to bolster its border protection, 'and the countries where the would-be illegal entrants are being turned back don't like this'. The European Union's solution to this, he added, was the migration pact and the distribution of migrants among member states. 'This is what they're trying to persuade Hungary to do, but we don't agree with it,' Bakondi said.
Bakondi said Hungary refuses to implement the migration pact, adding that the country instead aims to cooperate with and aid migrants' countries of origin and transit countries 'so that as few migrants as possible make it this far'. Many other countries, he added, were also experimenting with new solutions. 'Perhaps a change can be achieved in the EU's migration policy,' he said.
As regards the current situation at Hungary's border, Bakondi said there was no change at the border with Romania, thanks in part to the efforts of the Hungarian and Austrian border protection forces.
He noted, however, a significant increase in the number of illegal entries along the border section with Serbia compared with last year.
With Croatia and Slovenia also having strengthened their borders, he said, Afghan people smugglers were resettling in the area, and Moroccan and Syrian groups were also appearing there.
'So we can expect armed clashes between rival people smuggling gangs trying to seize territory from each other, as we saw in 2023 on the Serbian side of the Serbia-Hungary border,' Bakondi said.
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