Despite the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian conflict dominating the first day of NATO’s summit in Madrid, the alliance must now turn its attention from east to south and discuss solutions for dealing with the dramatic rise in illegal immigration into Europe, Szijjártó said on Thursday.
In a Facebook post, the foreign minister said that as well as the war in Ukraine, “the waves of illegal migration also present serious security risks,” and warned that “as the terror threat is increasing and hunger is expected due to food shortages, we have to expect the migration waves to become more severe.
“So far this year we have had to stop over 100,000 illegals on our southern border. Therefore, we must strengthen the protection of our borders and provide support to African and Middle East countries that are prepared to cooperate with us to stem migration waves,” Szijjártó added.
His comments come after the Hungarian prime minister’s chief of internal security, György Bakondi, revealed on the M1 television channel that so far this year, more than 145,000 illegal immigrants had been apprehended attempting to illegally cross the EU border, a figure more than double the 43,000 recorded for the same period in 2021.
Bakondi said “a very complicated and in many respects very dangerous border control operational situation has developed” across Europe, and the issue “requires attention.”
On Monday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced he had given Interior Minister Sándor Pintér a mandate to establish a new border protection agency, a move that would relieve police officers and military personnel from their current duties of guarding Hungary’s external border.
Photo credit: MTI