Already in the days before the entry into force of the border closure, the number of prohibited border-crossing attempts radically decreased, and there was not a single successful attempt as a combined result of the tightened legal border closure and the reinforced border fence, György Bakondi, Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister said on the Wednesday morning programme of the public service television news channel M1.

Regarding reports that associate the reinforced legal border closure with the custody and detention of asylum-seekers in the Western-European press, Mr Bakondi said: from time to time, one may hear and read about quite hysterically absurd assumptions, while criticisms are levelled even at the accommodation of migrants in shipping container homes. He reiterated that when the French State installed a shipping container camp at Calais – to replace the tents erected by migrants before – France was praised for having found such a civilised solution for the accommodation of immigrants. „It seems that those shipping containers and these shipping containers are a little different”, he remarked.

In answer to a question about possible physical abuses at the Serbian-Hungarian border, the senior advisor pointed out: 32 officers of Frontex monitor the activities at the border, and the report compiled on the basis of their opinions and findings which was released a few weeks ago came to positive conclusions with respect to the operation and legality of the Hungarian border guarding regime.

On the programme 180 minutes of Kossuth Rádió, Mr Bakondi was also asked about the fact that the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights prevented, by virtue of its Monday evening temporary measure, the relocation of eight teenagers and a pregnant woman to the transit zone. He said: this is a flawed legal approach as the European Court of Human Rights can only be resorted to once all the available legal remedies have been exhausted in Hungary. In this case, however, there is no Hungarian decision which could be appealed against before a court of law, and „so this is a somewhat premature reaction”.

As was pointed out on the programme, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee representing the nine asylum-seekers justifies the illegality of the situation in its reports by claiming that, according to EU regulations, asylum-seekers are entitled to the freedom of movement in the Member State in which they submitted their applications. The Prime Minister’s senior advisor said: this is indeed the case. However, the transit zones – where immigrants are required to submit their asylum applications – are not situated in the territory of Hungary from a legal point of view.

Mr Bakondi highlighted: in 2015 more than 500, in 2016 almost 400, while this year so far 35 individuals have been granted refugee status in Hungary.

(MTI)