“Thanks to the technical border barrier, legal measures and the establishment of the transit zones, only 18,326 illegal immigrants arrived in Hungary last year and just 1,157 have arrived so far this year compared to 391 thousand two years ago”, Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister György Bakondi said in an interview published in Hungarian daily Magyar Idők (Hungarian Times).

“The fact that Macedonia has constructed a technical border barrier along its border with Greece, and Slovenia has built a similar fence along its border with Croatia, has also contributed to achieving this huge decrease in the number of immigrants”, he added.

Mr. Bakondi also spoke about the fact that it is not true that Hungary does not accept true refugees. Everyone who is prepared to cooperate with the authorities, respects Hungarian and EU law, registers themselves and submits a request for asylum, will have their request examined. 508 immigrants were granted asylum or received protected or accepted status in 2015, 438 last year and 720 this year, he explained.

With relation to the ruling by the European Court of Justice in the quota case, the Chief Security Advisor said: “The Government acknowledges the ruling, but the Hungarian standpoint continues to be that it being mandatory to receive anyone does not conform to EU regulations, and quotas can only be voluntary”.

On the subject of a possible new wave of migration, Mr. Bakondi said that in his view the current situation is unstable. Some 70-80 thousands are trapped along the Balkans migrating route, and “they could arrive at the border any minute”, he said. “There are three million refugees in the Middle East, Lebanon, Jordan and mostly Turkey, whose make-up is unknown, and in view of the fact that relations between the EU and Turkey are +far from ideal”, the Turks could allow these people to set off for Europe at any time. The European Union is also being threatened by mass migration via Libya, where one million people are waiting. Large numbers of people are also expected to arrive from Morocco and the Spanish enclaves”, the Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister said.

“Now that the Islamic State is losing ground, it is sending large numbers of its fighters to Europe”, he also stated. “Generally speaking migrants are not terrorists, but there are obviously also terrorists amongst them”, he declared.

Mr. Bakondi pointed out that the ratio of migrants among the perpetrators of crime in the major receiving countries of Europe has clearly increased. “There have been a host of news reports about the assaults against women and thefts they have committed; the public safety situation has deteriorated, and it is now even more serious than in 2015”, he said.

(MTI)