“We can say that Brussels is working to force us to allow migrants into the country,” Gergely Gulyás told a press briefing.
Gulyás said Hungary has also been fined for operating transit zones at the border, even as the new migration pact “has partially taken over those good Hungarian practices”. The protection of the Schengen Area’s external borders “is important for the whole of Europe, and not just protecting Hungary from migration.” At the same time, Hungary is being denied access to EU funding earmarked for border protection, he said. Gulyás said the interior and justice ministers were looking into “offering all migrants at the Hungarian border to transport them to Brussels, voluntarily and for free, adhering to European procedures”, should the EU continue to try to strong-arm Hungary into adopting regulations that would make it impossible to keep migrants away from the country. “Hungary does not wish to pay daily fines” but will make it possible for those willing to get a one-way ticket to Brussels where “they can negotiate with the European Commission on the services they are to receive”.