The number of migrants heading to Europe has increased on all the main routes, with activity on the Greek islands already similar to the situation six to eight years ago. This is also reflected in the number of migrants arriving in Hungary via the Balkan route, Gyorgy Bakondi, the prime minister's chief advisor on internal security, told the M1 news channel on Saturday.
A new major wave of migrants is threatening Europe, prompting the Italians to start building closed camps, while clashes between migrant groups on the other side of Hungary’s southern border have become a daily occurrence. Hungarian border guards are preventing around a thousand migrants a day from crossing the border illegally. Meanwhile, Brussels has issued an ultimatum to member states on the migration pact,
Mr Bakondi said on the programme.
He confirmed that the number of migrants on all three main routes – the Spanish, the Italian and the Greek-Balkan route – has increased recently. There has been a particularly significant increase in activity at the Greek islands, similar to the situation six to eight years ago. This has implications for the whole Balkan route, with significant pressure on the southern Slavic states and the Hungarian border.
On Friday alone, Hungarian border guards escorted around 1,000 people back to the other side of the fence, and it is also evident that many are trying to enter Hungary and Western Europe from Romania,
he noted.
The EU's migration pact, adopted by qualified majority in the EU's Home Affairs Council, is a proposal to legalize illegal immigration, the expert said.
The plan is that the groups of illegal migrants brought in by people smugglers would be legally admitted to Europe and then distributed among member states,
Mr Bakondi warned.
A procedure whereby even criminals and terrorists could freely enter Hungary and the European Union without controls would be unprecedented and unthinkable, he added.
The Hungarian government rejects the new plans, and is trying to prevent them from being implemented with the help of its allies. The cabinet wants to ensure that those arriving via the Balkan route are stopped as far away as possible from the borders of the European Union,
he stated.
Opposition to Brussels' new plans is also growing in other EU member states, he noted.
Cover photo: Gyorgy Bakondi, the prime minister's chief advisor on internal security (Photo: Istvan Mirko)
