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Hungary rejects the EU's mandatory migrant resettlement quotas

Hungary supports stricter regulations against NGOs ferrying migrants across the sea to Europe

Hungary supports stricter regulations against NGOs ferrying migrants across the sea to Europe but rejects EU mandatory redistribution of migrant, Károly Kontrát, deputy minister of Interior, has said.

The minister said Hungary is firmly against EU redistribution plans aimed at easing the migration pressure on Italy.

According to MTI, Kontrát told EU interior ministers in Tallinn on July 6 that the Hungarian government’s position is that the primary task for the EU was to stop the wave of migrants and to protect the bloc’s external borders.

The minister said the interior ministers hailed Italy’s call for resolute action towards more effectively regulating civil organizations involved in helping migrants at sea.

He said Hungary was the first EU member state to highlight the “immense role and responsibility” of foreign funded NGOs “operating non-transparently” in the rising migration pressure on Europe.

“These organizations would often entice migrants into breaking the laws; as they would also often collaborate with human smugglers,” Kontrát said. Through such action, these groups only deepen the migration crisis instead of easing it, with which they also pose national security risks, he said.

Kontrát said he had stressed in his address at the meeting the need for the EU to stop the flow of migrants overall and to take action to prevent the exodus of migrants from their home countries as well as prevent illegal migration through transit countries.