Hungary reiterates strong opposition to EU’s new migration pact

ATHENS

Hungary reiterated Friday its strong opposition to the EU’s new migration pact which was adopted by the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council in June, according to the prime minister’s office.

The pact does not tackle the problem of asylum and would fail to curb illegal migration, said State Secretary of the Interior Ministry Bence Retvari.

“Hungary rejects this new pro-migration proposal by Brussels,” he said as he argued that the pact, which he called a potential migrant magnet, would open a new door to mass illegal migration to Europe.

Retvari said that the deal, currently under discussion, would define Europe’s future, security, economic competitiveness and the composition of its population in the long term, if adopted.

Hungary argued that consensus-based decision-making is important on strategic issues such as the migration pact, he said.

In a related development, the Head of the Prime Minister's Office, Gergely Gulyas, said: “The EU should change its fundamental attitude toward illegal migration.

“Everybody is free to decide whom they want to live together with controlling the bloc’s external borders is the EU’s obligation,” he said.

EU member states will have to accept an initial quota of 30,000 migrants from countries that bear the pressure of irregular migration from the Middle East and Africa, including Greece and Italy, or pay about €22,000 ($23,300) per non-admitted migrant, according to the pact.

Poland and Hungary were against the new rules but were outvoted.