Hungary's second border fence will be able to keep out the largest of migrant crowds arriving from the direction of Turkey, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said.
“The people of Austria and Germany can sleep sound because the Hungarians will protect Europe’s external borders,” PM Orbán said during his regular Kossuth Radio interview slot.
The prime minister reacted to Turkey’s partial suspension of its migration deal with the EU, and noted that he had previously argued that the EU must reach an agreement with Turkey as “putting our security solely in their [Turkey’s] hands” was “not a smart policy”.
PM Orbán said that this was why he had earlier called for building fences “with full force” while the deal with Turkey was in place. Because if the EU-Turkey deal “slips away” Europe will be right back where it started.
PM Orban also addressed Hungary's tightening of asylum rules. The prime minister said he had laid out the changes to his European counterparts at the last EU summit in Brussels. The essence of the new legislation is that asylum seekers must remain in the transit zones set up on the border until their cases are ruled on.
“This does not constitute detention,” he said, arguing that migrants have the option of turning back to Serbia whenever they want," he added.
On the subject of taxation policymaking, Orbán said if that were to be decided in Brussels, “multinational companies will benefit, but Hungarians will not.” The same would be the case if member states would no longer have the right to set utility prices, he added.