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Number of Illegal Migrants on Serbian-Hungarian Border on the Rise

The number of migrants who seek to cross the Serbian-Hungarian border illegally is on the rise: some 500 attempted to cross the border illegally in January, 650 up to 15 February, and in the last ten days 110 migrants have sought to enter Hungary illegally per day on average, György Bakondi said at his press conference held on Saturday in Budapest.

The Prime Minister’s chief advisor for internal security believes that the Government is prepared for the eventuality that asylum-seekers will attempt to enter Europe via new routes. Should this be the case, the Government would within a short time adopt the security measures which were implemented earlier at the Serbian-Hungarian and Croatian-Hungarian borders, he said.

Mr Bakondi added: the necessary technical equipment is available, and the Government would be able to seal the Romanian-Hungarian green border as well within a short time.

He further mentioned that migrant groups in different numbers have emerged in recent weeks at the Serbian-Hungarian-Romanian triple border, but Romanian border guards fulfil their duties with adequate technical equipment and in sufficient numbers, and they also inform their Hungarian counterparts of any apprehensions made.

Regarding the so-called Balkan route, Mr Bakondi pointed out: refugees are primarily arriving at the Greek islands situated close to Turkey, and from these they move on to Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and finally to Austria.

The chief advisor for internal security told the press that 1,500 to 2,000 people are arriving in Greece daily on average, and at present there are some 30,000 migrants in the country.

86,500 refugees have arrived in Macedonia in the first two months of the year, while according to reports 16,000 migrants entered Serbia weekly in January, and in February 7,000 have crossed the border weekly to date.

Based on the data of the International Organization for Migration, 110,000 migrants arrived in Europe by 22 February, the vast majority of them through Greece. This means that in less than two months this year as many people have entered Europe as did last year in six months, he added.