“Creating the legal and technical conditions for the detention of refugees is the task of the Ministry of Interior”, the Government Spokesperson said on Hungarian M1 television’s Thursday evening current affairs program.

“There is a receiving station in Kiskunhalas that houses people who are waiting for expulsion under closed conditions; they are generally there because they have committed crimes or misdemeanours”, Zoltán Kovács said.

Concerning the Government's decision to reinstate detention for refugees, the Government Spokesperson said: “The decision is aimed at assuring that nobody can move freely within the territory of Hungary until a final ruling is brought on whether they are eligible for some kind of legal status”, stressing that “these people represent a potential security risk”. As an example he cited the recent Berlin attack, which in his opinion is a current example of what can happen and the kind of people who may be arriving together with the refugees.

With relation to the receiving station in Körmend, Mr. Kovács explained: “It was set up out of necessity, on a temporary basis, and in future the Government would like to minimise the number of receiving stations in which this kind of task needs to be performed. The Spokesperson also said that there are currently one or two dozen people housed at the Körmend receiving station and the Government is providing them with all the necessary housing and basic living requirements, including in tents if needed.

(MTI)