The Government’s goal is that no one should be allowed to enter Europe illegally and migrants who are not truly in need of protection should not be allowed to set foot on the continent”, Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács declared.

Speaking on Hungarian M1 television’s Wednesday morning current affairs programme, Mr. Kovács said this was why Hungary had proposed Schengen 2.0, the reform of the Schengen system, with which “more and more people now agree”. The real dividing line between Member States today is whether or not they are adhering to joint border security regulations, the Government Spokesperson said, adding that this is the real “unit of solidarity”.

The Government would like a Europe in which strong Member States make decisions on fundamental issues that affect them, such as who the population wants to live with in the upcoming decades and centuries. Accordingly, a referendum on the compulsory resettlement quota has never been more actual, and it is inconceivable that the EU will ignore the results of such a referendum, he said.

According to Mr. Kovács, although illegal immigration is not currently conspicuous in Hungary, people simply have a “false sense of security”, because the “flood” of migration is still flowing towards Europe. Other countries, such as the United States and Australia, “have succeeded in providing for their own security” and keep immigration within a controlled framework, he noted.

On Kossuth Radio’s “180 Minutes” programme on Wednesday, Mr. Kovács called reports by the Financial Times on Tuesday, according to which EU Member States who do not want to accept resettled refugees from other Member States would have to pay a fine or “contribution” of 250 thousand euros per head if the European Commission’s latest reform plans are adopted, “hair-raising”. This is an attempt to “blackmail” Member States, the Government Spokesperson said.

(MTI)