Addressing the Hungarian parliament on Monday, the prime minister said he had instructed Minister of the Interior Sándor Pintér to set up the new body within the next two months over concerns of increasing migratory pressure.
Orbán said the new body would be “within the police, but not composed of police officers or soldiers” and would “deal exclusively with border protection.”
The prime minister praised police officers currently on duty at the border and said they should be relieved of these duties and be permitted to go home to their families. Equally, Orbán was unimpressed that military personnel was currently stationed at the border.
“It is an unsustainable state that while there is a war in a neighboring country, Hungarian soldiers should be employed in border defense instead of practicing,” Orbán told the Hungarian parliament.
The independent border guard in Hungary was abolished in 2007, leaving police officers and military personnel to perform the task of securing the border.
Photo credit: MTI