27/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - Construction of Hungary's fence along border with Serbia to be completed by end of August. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, speaking at a summer university in Romania on Sunday 26 July, said that the fence to strengthen the country's border with Serbia and prevent illegal immigrants crossing into Hungary would be completed by 31 August, AFP reports. Initially, it was envisaged that construction of the 175-kilometre long fence would take until the end of November. After a sharp rise in the number of asylum requests received, Hungary refused, on 20 July, to participate in the European scheme to relocate 40,000 asylum seekers already in Italy and Greece throughout the European Union (see EUROPE 11363). Neither did the country offer any resettlement places. (SP)