Hungarian authorities have detained 12,000 border violators so far this year, making the work of police and border hunter units indispensable, the prime minister’s chief adviser on internal security said on Friday in an interview on TV2’s Mokka programme.
Commenting on the European migration pact’s first-quarter report, which states that Hungary currently faces no migration threat or pressure, György Bakondi argued the assessment is far from accurate. He noted that in recent years more than one million border violators were intercepted at Hungary’s frontiers, while 1.4 million refugees arrived from Ukraine.
He pointed out that Hungary also plays an active role in protecting other external Schengen borders. Hungarian officers assist in securing the Bulgarian–Turkish and Serbian–North Macedonian borders, an effort he says is crucial because stopping migrants farther from Hungary reduces the strain at home and strengthens the overall border-protection system.
According to Bakondi, the EU’s classification of Hungary in the report reflects a political double standard. He added that the Union misjudged the issue of illegal migration in 2015 and has not revised its stance since, even though member states have undergone significant changes.
He said Hungary is determined to avoid the public-security problems visible in several EU countries. The experience of 2015 in places such as Bicske, Debrecen, and Budapest’s Keleti railway station showed Hungarians what large-scale migrant camps can entail.
Bakondi stressed that the government’s position is rooted in national interest, insisting that Hungary must maintain the migration policy that has delivered results in public safety. He remarked that while the European Commission recently signalled willingness to discuss Poland’s refusal to accept migrants or pay related fines, Hungary continues to face political pressure and threats instead of dialogue.
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