“The establishment of a European Union Agency for Asylum goes against the government’s standpoint because it would simplify and accelerate immigration”, the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary State Secretary said on Kossuth Radio’s “Sunday papers” program.

According to Csaba Dömötör, it would be more fitting to call the new asylum agency an immigration organisation agency in view of the fact that its task would be to make asylum procedures faster and more efficient, meaning that to all intents and purposes it would make immigration easier. “This goes against the Government’s standpoint”, he added.

“The external borders must be protected and Europe must be capable of curbing illegal immigration before migrants reach the border” he highlighted, adding: “It would be better to take help to regions that are in trouble, instead of bringing the trouble into Europe and Hungary”.

In Mr. Dömötör’s opinion, the fact that MEP Péter Niedermüller (DK) took part in the meeting in representation of the European Parliament says a lot in itself. “The problem with the agency isn’t just that it makes immigration simpler and faster, but also that it removes spheres of competence from member states”, he stressed. “Hungarian opposition parties are supporting Brussels’ misguided immigration policy”, he added, citing as an example the fact that MSZP candidate for Prime Minister László Botka has promised to demolish the southern border barrier if the party gains power.

The Parliamentary State Secretary said immigration was also the most important topic of the recent National Consultation in view of the fact that it was the most recent in a series of occasions on which the people of Hungary had declared: they want nothing to do with illegal immigration and resettlement programmes. “Europe is under huge pressure from the Mediterranean region, but the European Commission continues to push its resettlement programmes instead of setting as its target the reinforcement of external borders”, he pointed out. “In Hungary, the southern border barrier has lived up to expectations and pressure from the south has been reduced, but the situation could change at any time. According to German estimates, 6.6 million people are waiting to set out for Europe”, he said.

Mr. Dömötör said it was particularly strange that the Vice-President of the European Commission had compared the illegal immigrants of today to the refugees of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, who were truly running for their lives and did not attack police with stones, and who arrived in various Western European countries while fully cooperating with the authorities. “The same cannot be stated about some of today’s illegal immigrants and several criminal investigations have been launched as a result”, he said, citing the riot at the border crossing station in Röszke in 2015.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)