Hungary, Budapest – During a press conference with Austrian chancellor Christian Kern, and after the killing of the priest Jacques Hamel in Normandy, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had strong declarations about migrants, saying they are “poison” and “not needed.”
“Hungary does not need a single migrant for the economy to work, or the population to sustain itself, or for the country to have a future,” Orbán said, “this is why there is no need for a common European migration policy: whoever needs migrants can take them, but don’t force them on us, we don’t need them.”
After the string of attacks touching Western Europe, the Prime Minister added that “we can only allow into Hungary the number of people that we can examine as well. As, according to the Hungarian perception, every single migrant, every single migrant means a public safety and terror risk.” Viktor Orbán is a strong opponent to the EU quota plan. Hungary will hold her referendum to her participation in the scheme on October 2.
In early July, Austria promised to send 20 police officers to the Serbian frontier, where around 20 asylum seekers a day are allowed to cross into a border “transit zone” and apply for asylum. Austrian chancellor Chistian Kern said migration to Austria and Germany had declined thanks to Hungary’s tough measures. “If we are beneficiaries from this process, then we have to assist it,” he said.
Viktor Orbán declared at the press conference that Hungary is willing to take back some migrants from Austria under European rules and would then return them to their countries of origin, mostly Kosovo and Albania. He added that agreements and procedures are in place with the countries of origin as well as the countries through which the migrants would be returned home by bus.
For the European Commission, migration “is the medicine for certain problems. For us, it is poison, which is why we don’t need it. We don’t want to take it,” Viktor Orbán said.
