On Sunday György Bakondi, Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, told public broadcaster Kossuth Rádió that by protecting its own borders Hungary is also protecting Europe’s external borders, and is doing everything possible to ensure the safety of Europe’s people.

Mr. Bakondi said that this attitude has a historic tradition: Hungary has been doing this for centuries.

He pointed out that the importance of border protection or the referendum is not to be measured by the number of migrants who are currently in the country. The most important aspect is compliance with EU law.

The Chief Advisor pointed out that at the beginning of the migration crisis Hungary was often criticised for the measures it introduced, but he added that now the situation has changed significantly: the governments of European states have recognised the shift in public sentiment, and they have all thus enacted protective measures.

Mr. Bakondi stressed that it is no longer only the Visegrád countries which believe that enough uncontrolled people have already reached the EU, and that therefore reinforcing internal security is an important interest.

He also said that Hungary has not and will not surrender to any kind of blackmail – whether it comes in the form of demonstrations, aggressive and illegal border crossings or any other forms of threat. Hungary’s stricter measures are proving successful, as while last summer some one thousand people a day were crossing Hungary’s borders illegally, this number has now fallen to some one hundred migrants a day.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)