Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács has told public television M1 that so far 610,000 people have returned national consultation questionnaires, therefore it seems that the campaigned has fulfilled its objective of reaching the people.

Mr. Kovács explained that what counts is that as many people as possible return the questionnaires. In these terms, he said, “We are doing well”, and there have been days when more than forty-five thousand questionnaires were returned. News in recent days also shows that this is a relevant issue which concerns all Europe, and one which must be faced by all European countries, he said.

He said that the electronic processing of questionnaires is ongoing. Depending on the number sent back on a daily basis, the number of unprocessed questionnaires varies between 100,000 and 150,000. He added that the reason for accelerating the processing rate is to enable specialists and the Prime Minister to report at the European Council session the end of June on what Hungarians think about the issue, and thus to provide support for Hungarian policy.

The Government Spokesperson stressed that there has been no significant change in the overall nature of responses since the stage at which five hundred thousand responses had been processed. This means that the great majority of people – approximately eighty per cent – expect stronger, more decisive action from both the EU and Hungary.

Mr. Kovács emphasised that this is an issue which defines Hungary’s future in the medium and long term. There is a continuous stream of tens or hundreds of thousands of people in transit, crossing the EU’s borders, “causing increasing headaches” to all Member States over what to do with them, he said.

He was of the opinion that today the EU “is practically unprotected”; illegal migrants are entering the territory of the European Union unchecked, and it is difficult to do anything about this flood of people. New EU regulations are needed, and Member States must decide whether they want to receive economic migrants or not, he said.

Mr. Kovács also pointed out that the situation is changing almost every day – not only in Hungary, but in all Member States of the EU – and it is certain that it will not become easier in the coming period either. There are approximately five hundred thousand people in the Mediterranean ready to leave for the EU. If the community acts more decisively at sea, land routes will become more important, and as Hungary is on these routes, this will certainly influence Hungary as well, the Government Spokesperson said.

(MTI)

(MTI)