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Hungary is prepared for building fence on Romanian border

Hungary is ready to build the fence on the Hungarian-Romanian border if necessitated by the migration situation, the Prime Minister’s chief advisor stated at a press conference.

György Bakondi said: this eventuality may set in once the patrolling units can no longer detain the flow of illegal migrants. If the Government decides in favour of the construction of the border fence, the construction works will begin at the Hungarian-Serbian-Romanian triple border and the fence will be built on the necessary length of border section along a border section of 450 kilometres, he added.

The chief advisor told the press upon reviewing the migration situation: it clearly testifies to the intensification of the migrant flow that more people arrived at the Greek islands in January and February this year than in the first six months of last year, and there are now some 3 million migrants in Turkey.

Due to the partial closure of the Macedonian border, 40,000 migrants are stuck in Greece; 12,000 of them are waiting at the Macedonian border. Some 2,000 to 3,000 people are arriving at the islands every day, and there are also violent incidents.

Parallel with this, he continued, the number of illegal migrants has also increased on the Serbian-Hungarian and Hungarian-Croatian borders. The authorities are now apprehending 110 to 130 illegal border crossers daily on average. Therefore, the Government is prepared for reinforcing these border sections, while fences will also be built on further border sections.

Mr Bakondi further informed the press that the Hungarian Government deems the distribution of migrants among EU Member States on the basis of quotas unreasonable and unlawful, and has therefore filed a petition with the European Court and has decided to hold a referendum on this issue.

Károly Kontrát, Minister of State at the Ministry of Interior stressed: while Hungary is the EU’s best protected country thanks to the southern border fence, we are still compelled to face threats. This is testified to by the fact that 235 illegal migrants were apprehended at the southern border on Friday.

Despite the reinforcement of the Serbian and Croatian border sections, the Romanian border, too, poses a potential threat. The production of elements of the fence planned to be installed on that border section has already begun in penal institutions, he said.

Tamás Vargha, Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence informed the press that the military have already cleared the soil on the section extending from the triple border to Battonya in preparation for the installation of the fence, and the track for the fence has been designated on another section of 110 kilometres.

In answer to a question regarding a list being drafted of non-state-owned jeeps, the Minister of State said: in the event of a state of crisis or emergency, every country must have a list of the vehicles which it may use. The list was drafted to this end, and it does not affect vehicles owned by private individuals, he added.

It was further stated at the press conference that the reason why refugee centres are being built in the vicinity of Szentgotthárd and Körmend is to have somewhere to provide shelter for migrants, should Austria decide to build a technical closure facility in the region.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)