Hungary was protecting Europe's borders by arresting and imprisoning more than 2,600 people smugglers, the Government Information Center (KTK) said in a statement sent to MTI.
Brussels does not provide money for the border fence, or for the construction of prisons and yet punishes Hungary for the prisons being crowded.
Hungary has acted in accordance with Hungarian law by ordering the reintegrational detention of people convicted of human smuggling in order to reduce overcrowding in prisons, the KTK statement reads.
In this context, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto stated that Brussels itself is the biggest supporter of people smuggling, as the criminals' business model is viable precisely because of the pro-immigration policy of the European Union, and in this light the infringement proceedings against Hungary for expelling foreign people smugglers are particularly lacking in credibility. In a joint press conference with his Bosnian counterpart, the minister underlined that "Brussels itself is the biggest supporter of human smuggling".
"The model of people smuggling works because Brussels implements pro-immigration policies," and he argued that the criminals' business model would quickly be destroyed if Brussels made it clear that the only way to come to Europe is legally, and sending everyone else back. "But that's not what Brussels is doing, by imposing quotas it is sending an invitation to all migrants to come here and is reinforcing the smugglers' business model. So, after all this
what Brussels is doing to Hungary regarding the matter of human trafficking is completely unacceptable, discredited and frivolous,"
he said. FM Szijjarto stressed that Hungary has so far spent some HUF 650 billion (approx EUR 1.7 billion) on border protection, to which the European Union has contributed one percent. "People smugglers will be expelled, because it is better if they are outside the country. We expel them because we refuse to spend the Hungarian people's money on them. Especially, since after being incarcerated they go running to Brussels to claim that we pay them compensation because they were kept in sub-par conditions in Hungarian prisons," he pointed out.
"It's not enough that they commit a crime, in fact a crime enabled by Brussels, but that we should also pay them because we have not kept them well in Hungarian prisons," he added.
On the ratification of Sweden's accession to NATO, the minister reiterated that the government's position is clear, Hungary continues to support enlargement. "If we had not supported it, we would not have submitted the proposal to the parliament for ratification. As to when the parliament will decide on this is for the MPs to decide," he said.
"It was clear from recent statements that the Turkish ratification process will not be completed tomorrow and our earlier promise that Hungary will not be the last to do so is, of course, valid.
