György Bakondi stressed that the European Union has made a number of decisions that run counter to the interests of European people, including on war, energy policy and migration. By contrast, the Hungarian migration policy has delivered results, and an increasing number of countries are now acknowledging this, he added, noting that the approach serves Hungary’s national interest.
The adviser pointed out that in some major cities in Western Europe, the proportion of people with a migrant background has already exceeded 30–40 percent. In certain schools, he said, it is not uncommon for only two out of twenty pupils to have no migrant background. He added that halting these processes has become highly questionable, and that stopping mass migration in those countries would first be necessary.
György Bakondi also spoke about Cyprus, which assumed the rotating presidency of the European Union on January 1. He said the country is a beneficiary of the EU migration pact, as it is in its interest for other member states to take over migrants arriving there. At the same time, he added, Cyprus’s presidential role could allow it to channel the views of opponents of the migration pact, especially as it has itself experienced migration pressure.
He said it can generally be observed that migration policy is also changing in the region, with Greece and Cyprus tightening border policing practices and legal regulations, and developing physical border barriers. In addition, the number of countries rejecting the migration pact in its current form is growing, including Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Italy.
At the same time, György Bakondi noted, Brussels’s assessment of Hungary has not changed, with continued fines and political pressure, despite the fact that Hungarian law enforcement authorities intercepted 12,500 illegal border crossers last year.
“We do not accept that others decide who should come here. We do not build migrant ghettos housing tens of thousands of people, and we will not change the successful Hungarian migration policy,” the prime minister’s chief domestic security adviser emphasized.
Speaking on Kossuth Radio’s Good Morning, Hungary programme, György Bakondi also said it is hard to imagine the impact on the country’s daily life and internal security if migrants were to arrive en masse in line with the migration pact set to enter into force in a few months.
He recalled that while New Year’s Eve passed peacefully in Hungary, 1,700 cars were set on fire in Paris, and police officers were injured in Germany.