PM Orban: We are defending not only Hungary, but the whole of Europe

No one may enter the territory of the country until their asylum application has been examined, the Hungarian prime minister said.

Magyar-szerb-osztrák migrációs csúcs Bécsben Fotó: Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Benko Vivien Cher

The Hungarians are protecting not only Hungary, but also the whole of Europe, including Austria, against illegal immigrants, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at the Hungarian-Austrian-Serbian migration summit in Vienna on Friday.

The premier said that last year a total of 330,000 illegal migrants were stopped along the borders of Europe, 270,000 of them at the Hungarian-Serbian border.

Viktor Orban said that the Hungarian model – which is effective – rests on a simple idea: No one can enter the territory of the country until their asylum application has been adjudicated.

Only once your submitted asylum application receives a positive response do you gain entrance.

The PM underlined that Hungary will not implement the EU's decisions on migration, does not accept the mandatory quotas, nor the obligation to build migrant ghettos and camps. As he put it:

 an effective Hungarian model is to be replaced by a new European model that obviously does not work. Hungary will find a legal and political way to not implement the decisions of Brussels.

PM Orban described the situation as sad, and noted that Hungary must defend itself not only against illegal migrants and people smugglers, but also against Brussels, and it will do so.

The EU's asylum system is not working, and Austria, together with Hungary and Serbia, has clearly put the brakes on asylum, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said after the summit. 

We are allies in the fight against illegal migration and act together against organized crime. International organized crime can only be dealt with effectively through international cooperation,

the Austrian chancellor said, adding that the humane goal behind every step of the cooperation is to put an end to the rising death toll in the Mediterranean. To this end, it is essential to introduce asylum procedures in third countries and thus reduce the pressure on the Western Balkans.

Thanks to the three governments, refugee applications have decreased significantly and we are ready to continue to cooperate in this way, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after the meeting, adding that a trilateral declaration on the border situation in northern Macedonia was also signed.

Vučić, Orbán& Nehammer walk through the city centre of Vienna.👀

Vučić, Orbán& Nehammer spazieren durch die Innenstadt von Wien.#w0707 pic.twitter.com/C62Wy82sty

— Esterreicherr (@Esterreicherr) July 7, 2023

Cover photo: Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer (on left) receives Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the Chancellery in Vienna ahead of the Hungarian-Serbian-Austrian migration summit on 7 July 2023 (Photo: MTI/Hungarian PM's Press Office/ Vivien Cher Benko)