Hungary’s PM pledges strict migration policy ahead of EU pact

Hungary’s incoming government will not allow illegal migrants into the country and rejects opposition claims that it faces a surge of refugees from the world’s poorest nations.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar made the statement ahead of the European Union’s Asylum and Migration Pact set to come into force on June 12.

“Under a government of the Tisza party, there will be no illegal migrants in Hungary. Anyone who claims otherwise is lying and deceiving their voters,” Magyar wrote on his Facebook page.

He was responding to a call from the Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance party urging officials to declare that, even after the change of power, Hungary would not implement the EU migration pact. The previous government led by Viktor Orbán had refused to comply with the agreement, sharply escalating tensions with Brussels. Following its defeat in the parliamentary elections on April 12, Orbán’s party, which had been in power for the past 16 years, moved into opposition.

Addressing criticism that the new Hungarian government had refused to openly oppose the pact and that the country would now be flooded with migrants from Asia and Africa, Magyar asked why Fidesz had allowed the agreement to be adopted within the EU if it was so dissatisfied with it.

The new Hungarian authorities, unlike their predecessors, have not explicitly opposed the migration pact, but have indicated that they are not satisfied with all of its provisions.

Magyar’s government has avoided direct comments on specific clauses of the agreement, but has stated that there will be neither illegal migrants nor refugee camps in Hungary. It has also suggested that instead of accepting migrants, it could rely on compensation mechanisms involving contributions to a common EU fund.

By Jeyhun Aghazada