The European Union’s flawed migration policy could change; the decision adopted by the European Parliament (EP) on Thursday indicates this, the Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister said on the Saturday evening programme of the public service television news channel M1.

On Thursday the plenary session of the European Parliament rejected a draft which called upon Member States to enhance search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean.

György Bakondi said the motion of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) which was going to facilitate the mass illegal influx of migrants into Europe favoured some liberal, left-wing groups; however, the European Parliament’s majority rejected it.

This indicates that there is perhaps a chance that the EU’s “flawed migration policy resulting in very serious consequences” which has been pursued since 2015 could change.

The Chief Advisor also said in the new EP the situation which was typical in the previous two Parliaments – meaning that if the socialists and the People’s Party group agreed on something, that qualified as an adopted decision due to their parliamentary majority – has changed.

In the current Parliament, the votes of others also count, be they the votes of the British MEPs still in the EP, the strengthened green party or right-wing party families.

In the interview, Mr Bakondi was asked regarding the fact that, according to the survey of an Italian church research institute, the number of migrants arriving in Italy illegally could reach 630,000 by the end of the year.

Mr Bakondi stressed that this survey only included “registered numbers,” meaning only migrants who were registered by one authority or another.

In actual fact, a very large number of migrants, after reaching the Italian shores, attempt to hide from the authorities, and so one can only estimate the number of people actually arriving in Europe, he said.

(MTI)