13 February 2020, Röszke

Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I cordially welcome you here on the Hungarian border. I have invited Prime Minister of Slovakia Peter Pellegrini here today, and I am grateful that he accepted my invitation. I invited him because recently the situation here at the border has taken a turn for the worse, with the number of prohibited crossings increasing dramatically in the few weeks of this year so far. In just forty days we have had to respond to more than 5,000 illegal entry attempts. Some of these were not by lone individuals, but by organised groups: some even managed to break through and advance a few metres, while others lined up at the border – but we didn’t open the border, and so they couldn’t get in. We expect this trend to intensify, with increasing numbers and an increasing level of organisation. As the weather improves, more and more of them will come. Currently potentially as many as 100,000 migrants want to enter Europe. They’re here, on this so-called “Balkans route”, the route you’re standing on now; and, if we allow them, through these fences they could enter Hungary and also Slovakia. I would like the Slovak people to know that here we’re defending not only the border of Hungary, but also the border of Slovakia. This is a difficult task, which would be hard for us to perform on our own: we need assistance and allies. I would like to tell Slovakians reading and watching the news that Hungary is grateful to the Government and Prime Minister of Slovakia, because whenever we have needed help we have always received it, and your police officers have performed a very important job. We have now strengthened our agreement with the Prime Minister, and so if the pressure intensifies in the coming weeks and months we will be able to count on assistance arriving from Slovakia. I would like both Hungarians and Slovaks to know that we are cooperating on a friendly and brotherly basis, and we believe that this is the kind of cooperation upon which we can build a shared future. Peter, please allow me to thank you here in public for the assistance I have received from you all. Please continue to turn your attention toward us and this border section, and, if the need arises, please come and help us.

(miniszterelnok.hu)