Brussels, 03/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was in Brussels on Thursday 3 September to defend his policy on migration flows, justifying the construction of the fence to control passage at his country's border with Serbia and promising that his government will apply all the rules of the Dublin Regulation, in particular those that require migrants entering Hungary to be registered.
When asked about possible Commission proposals on a system to relocate 120,000 people seeking asylum in Hungary (see other article), Orban spoke of “bluff” and said that no mention of anything like that had been made on Thursday. He also said he did not want any “hotspots”. “We should only speak of mechanisms if we control the EU's external borders. We must focus only on the external borders”, he stressed. In his view, plans for quotas of asylum seekers could “cause more deaths” by giving people the illusion that the EU “can accommodate everyone”.
Criticism of German decisions.
Orban first met European Parliament President Martin Schulz, then European Council President Donald Tusk, followed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. He wanted to speak about his country's situation and the recent tension between Hungary and Germany or Austria. He said he thought Schengen was under threat and that the crisis was especially “a German problem” - “not all the migrants wanting to stay in Hungary, but wanting to get to Germany”. Orban attacked Berlin's decision to suspend the Dublin Regulation in favour of the Syrians and he attacked the consequences of this for Hungary. “They come to Hungary and they don't want to register; we can't let them leave, but they don't want [to stay]”, he said. “If Germany wants to invite them, then let it issue visas”, he added.
Orban also thought that it was better for the Syrian refugees to stay in the neighbouring countries. The EU should boost its financial effort in the region. Orban said that a new Hungarian law would apply from 15 September to strengthen the monitoring of borders and added that an information campaign would be started to prevent departure candidates from taking the route to the EU. Responding to the Bodrum tragedy, Orban said alongside Schulz on Thursday morning that Turkey (where the family of the young boy who drowned had arrived) was “a safe country. So don't come”, he said. (Solenn Paulic)