Zoltán Kovács, State Secretary for International Communications and Relations, said the Hungarian government has had the same position on migration since 2015, and advocated that members of the European Union should cooperate and ease the pressure of illegal migration outside the community.
Kovács reacted to a draft pact on migration and refugees presented by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen earlier in the day, and called for cooperation with countries generating migration aimed at ensuring conditions that people are not forced to leave their homeland. “Aid should be delivered where it is needed rather than importing the problem to Europe," Kovács told MTI.
The state secretary added that Europe’s borders must be controlled; hotspots should be created outside those borders where applications for asylum could be processed.
“We are working to get EU members to help each other in performing those tasks. Hungary does not support a mandatory distribution of quotas, but will protect the common borders and expects to receive the same funds as any other Schengen countries controlling the external borders,” Kovács said.
Photo credit: Magyar Nemzet