With political will illegal migration could be stopped

June 10, 2020 9:08 AM

According to the Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, with political will illegal migration could be stopped.

At a background discussion held on Tuesday in Budapest, György Bakondi said due to the coronavirus epidemic, Europe’s nation states had introduced very strict protective measures, in response to which in the past few months movement on the Spanish, Italian and Balkans illegal migration routes had abated significantly. However, with the lifting of restrictions migration has resumed with an intensity in excess of that observed during the corresponding period of 2019, he pointed out. If there was political will, “it would indeed be possible to stop illegal migration, meaning that the liberal mantra denying this is not true,” he said.

At the same time, Mr Bakondi highlighted that stopping illegal immigration outside the borders of the European Union was a realistic goal.

Regarding the development of the migration situation, he recalled that on 28 February – encouraged by press reports about the opening of the borders – groups of migrants in the hundreds set out one after another from refugee camps in Turkey for the EU. Mr Bakondi said it is a remarkable fact that Syrian refugees only accounted for a very small minority; most of the migrants arrived in the Asia Minor country via the Turkish-Iranian border.

Mr Bakondi said up to 22 May the Turkish authorities detained more than 56,000 migrants, including migrants from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq as well as from the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan regions, which represents a significant increase, while there was a slight increase in the number of migrants detained in Turkish waters.

He highlighted that this year up to 22 May 3,579,000 Syrian refugees had been registered in Turkey, while in consequence of the Idlib ceasefire more than 285,000 had returned to Syria.

So far this year some 9,500 migrants have arrived from the direction of Turkey, including around 9,000 up to March, the beginning of the restrictions introduced before the epidemic.

Mr Bakondi pointed out that in Greece – where there are some 150,000 registered asylum-seekers at present – the main elements of the country’s new migration policy had been announced at the beginning of this month. Among these, he mentioned that the overseeing of reception centres would come under the direct supervision of the government, asylum procedures would be accelerated and they would introduce biometric entry in camps.

Last Wednesday, the Greek police and army were placed on a higher state of alert as according to their information around 6,000 migrants were seen proceeding on the Turkish side of the border, the chief security advisor highlighted, indicating that no attempts have been made yet to break through the border.

In North Macedonia there has been a significant rise in migration movements compared with recent periods and an extreme rise compared with last week, he continued. Since the beginning of the year, they have registered more than 5,000 persons and have detected almost 570 illegal border crossing attempts at the Southern border of the country committed mostly by Afghans, Pakistanis, Iraqis, and Syrians in smaller numbers.

Regarding the situation in the Western Balkans, Mr Bakondi recalled that in Bosnia and Herzegovina the Foreign Minister resigned because he did not agree with the management of illegal immigration. In the country around 7,000 migrants got stuck, “causing a difficult situation”.

At the beginning of May, the Serbian authorities placed more than 9,000 persons in camps; with the lifting of the state of emergency, three thousand of them “disappeared” only to turn up at the Bosnian, Romanian and Hungarian borders, he said.

The chief advisor reported that in Croatia in the first four months of the year illegal migration movements had decreased by 35 per cent; however, in the past few days ever more people have attempted to enter the country illegally.

At the same time, in Slovenia compared with last year, the number of illegal immigrants has increased by 70 per cent. In the first five months of the year, they registered more than 3,000 illegal border crossing attempts. Two weeks ago, they deployed another one thousand police officers at the Slovenian-Croatian border and also set up a special unit to counter people smuggling, Mr Bakondi listed, describing the Slovenian Interior Minister’s statement that his country is “strictly against” mandatory quotas as important.

Up to the end of May, there was a three-fold increase in the number of migrants arriving in Malta, Italy and Spain via the Mediterranean; compared with last year’s two thousand, on these routes almost 6,400 migrants were registered, he indicated.

In the context of the closure of transit zones, Mr Bakondi observed that in its 2017 decision the European Court of Human Rights did not regard stay in the transit zone as detention.

However, the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union is binding on Hungary, Mr Bakondi added.

The chief security advisor said the new European Commission is making intensive efforts to change its former “failed” migration policy. Mr Bakondi spoke in detail about the main elements of the EU Pact on Migration and Hungarian diplomacy’s position in relation to them.

Regarding the situation in Hungary, Mr Bakondi said this year 10,805 border crossing attempts have been made at the Southern border. More than two thousand have been foiled, while in more than 8,000 cases the apprehended migrants have been shown back to the other side of the fence. This year until Sunday 134 people smugglers were apprehended, while during the whole year last year only 53.

The chief advisor said in conclusion that their earlier projection – that with the lifting of the disease control measures adopted in countries of the Western Balkans, the number of border crossing attempts at the Hungarian border will increase – has proved to be right; on average, there are now over one hundred attempts daily.