MEP Balázs Hidvéghi said the European Union could not handle the migration crisis, and eight years after the crisis the European Parliament is still talking about the need to increase European solidarity and help with the placement and distribution of immigrants.
Speaking in Strasbourg on Wednesday, Hidvéghi told MTI that in an EP debate on Tuesday on Italy’s recent declaration of a state of emergency over migration, most MEPs were “still forcing the same bad, tired methods which were clearly proven inadequate to solve the problem years ago”. If a certain method is proven not to work in fixing a given problem, then it is time to try something new, Hidvéghi said. The fact that the same things are being said eight years after the start of the migration crisis shows that the EU could not handle the migration crisis and has been trying the wrong methods in the recent period, he added. The MEP said the changes to the EU’s methods in managing the crisis should start with securing the bloc’s borders. It should also be made clear, he said, that the EU will not tolerate illegal entry onto its territory. He said most migrants coming to the EU were not refugees but rather economic migrants “taking advantage of Europe’s weakness and that member states don’t even observe or enforce their own laws”. Hidvéghi said the EU should help Italy protect its borders and help member states with repatriating migrants. Once borders are protected and the laws respected, the EU can discuss helping Africa and member states’ national regulation of migration, he said. Hidvéghi said he would propose that the EP on Thursday postpone a vote on its position on a new asylum pact, arguing that several MEPs believed it makes “incorrect assumptions” and “forces the wrong solutions”.