Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács believes it would be more humane if Member States of the European Union provided assistance for the needy locally and if they attempted to prevent migrants from setting out on a journey of thousands of kilometres and coming to Europe illegally only to have to send them back.

On the public service television news channel Mr Kovács was interviewed in connection with the fact that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

He took the view that it is not a humane solution in the least if these people have to be taken back “in the tens, hundreds or thousands” to the places they set out from.

The government spokesperson indicated that the German Chancellor and the Hungarian Prime Minister also agreed on the issue of non-governmental organisations, but on this issue a “pan-European agreement” is about to unfold anyway. He said the activities of NGOs must be controlled, and it is inconceivable that organisations which call themselves non-governmental should consider themselves above international law.

He also said that, in his view, cooperation between Hungary and Germany may rise to a new level, and the most important areas of future cooperation will be research, development and the defence industry.

(MTI)