The Hungarian government will extend the state of emergency caused by illegal immigration, György Bakondi, Chief Security Advisor to the prime minister has confirmed.
According to Bakondi, originally the state of emergency was supposed to remain in force until September 9, but the current situation definitely justifies its extension.
The Chief Security Advisor explained that partly because of the establishment of new routes, the pressure of migration has yet again increased in Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia. The number of migrants arriving on the Greek islands has doubled, and countries along the Balkan route are making serious efforts to protect their borders.
On average, some one hundred people a day are attempting to cross Hungary’s border illegally, but so far no attempts have been successful, Bakondi said.
He added that, according to certain estimates, there are some 3,000 migrants waiting in the vicinity of the Hungarian border: with the help of people smugglers they are trying to find weak points in the system.
In order to help resolve these issues, Hungary's October 2 referendum will be the first in Europe to determine whether Hungarians will accept the EU's forced migration quotas.