On Friday 5 July, Bence Rétvári, Deputy Minister of the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior, spoke in favour of protecting the EU’s external borders to a group of European journalists visiting Budapest, including Agence Europe.
“At the moment it is not the EU defining the rules. (...) It is not the EU leaders who are in control and make decisions, but the human traffickers”, he denounced.
Referring to a video of images from the Hungarian border showing violent men, sometimes armed, attacking the police, the deputy minister called for more to be done to protect the borders, because, in his view, “those arriving in the EU in such a way did not respect the EU and Hungary, they were not in compliance with the law”.
So, according to the Hungarian official, “we need to take control, so that human traffickers are not guiding the trend”. “Our policy is based on our experience. We want to keep Europe safe”, he added.
The day before, Hungary’s international spokesman, Zoltán Kovács, had said that illegal migration was an “existential threat” that had to be stopped at Europe’s borders, and that borders needed to be protected, not migration managed. “The first thing to do is to change our attitude, by managing what is happening at the border”, he added. In his view, the new pact on migration does not provide a solution, but aims to extend the migration problem to all European countries.
Mr Rétvári said that the best way to put pressure on this system of illegal migration was to take action, especially as, in his view, if the external borders are not strengthened, there is a risk that controls will be re-introduced at the EU’s internal borders, with a negative risk for European competitiveness.
He advocates a solution based on three pillars: the implementation of a legal framework against illegal migration, fences and resources, and human capacity.
The minister called on the Commission to help his country financially to control its borders, a request that will be repeated on Monday when Commissioner Johannes Hahn visits the country. By protecting Hungary’s borders, “we are protecting other countries”. “Solidarity also means protecting the borders of those who are at the EU’s frontier”, said the deputy minister.
According to him, last year his country spent €2 billion controlling its borders and preventing a million migrants from entering the country, but only received the equivalent of 1% in financial support from the EU. “We have not received any money, but a fine” from the Court of Justice, “because the police force did not help the migrants”, according to Mr Rétvári. On 13 June 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union ordered Hungary to pay a sum of €200 million as a result of the restrictions imposed by the country on the right of asylum. Budapest will have to pay €1 million per day of delay (see EUROPE 13431/18).
According to Mr Rétvári, the fine, which the Minister described as “disproportionate” because it was “70 times higher than the traditional amount”, was “political pressure” due to Hungary’s approach to migration. He added that the government would be making a decision on the fine in the next few days. “We don’t plan to pay the fine, it’s unfair”, the minister has already made clear. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with Solenn Paulic)