György Bakondi, Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister told Hungarian television channel M1 that increasingly serious political powers are interested in finding a solution to illegal migration.

Mr. Bakondi called recent developments favourable including that the Libyan coast guard rescued one thousand migrants from the Mediterranean and transported them back to the North African state.

He further said that an even more effective measure would be if in addition to returning migrants, the ships of people smugglers would also be sunk. According to Mr. Bakondi, if the reinforcement of the Libyan coast guard and border protection forces proved to be successful, it would considerably hinder the activities of people smuggling organisations.

On Sunday, Italian authorities denied a rescue ship of non-governmental organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) transporting migrants entry to Italian waters, which was then not allowed to disembark on the island of Lampedusa either as the organisation refused to sign the Italian Government’s code of conduct for rescue ships. In addition, Italian authorities seized a rescue vessel of German Jugend Rettet, and an investigation has been launched against the crew for aiding and abetting illegal immigration. According to the Italian authorities, the investigation has uncovered that the rescue vessel of Jugend Rettet had taken over groups of migrants directly from people smugglers on Libyan waters on many occasions.

In this context, Mr. Bakondi said that prosecutors are investigating the case. He added that evidence and recordings were uncovered proving that the representatives of the civil organisation cooperated with people smugglers directly. According to the Chief Security Advisor, we have to wait for the investigation to be closed and the question is how it will affect other rescue organisations.

(MTI)