Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, during a meeting with his Czech counterpart Andrej Babis, said that Hungary expected a million of refugees from Afghanistan to reach the Hungarian border, but confirmed that the country does not want refugees.
He took the opportunity to address Ukraine, saying it should not interfere in Hungary’s policies, Reuters reported.
I do not believe we will avoid a new wave of migration. A large part of the Afghan population will try to come to Europe via the Balkans. Hungary is not only defending itself, but also the Czech Republic and Europe, and I am not ashamed to ask for troops from Prime Minister Babis. We will need help defending the border, Orban said.
Babis, an admirer of Orban’s hardline policies, said his government agreed this week to send 50 Czech police officers to help guard a fence built during Orban’s tenure on Hungary’s border with Serbia. The border also demarcates part of the European Union’s external boundary.
Orban also said that the migrant issue is one of three that the Visegrad Group, made up of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, is opposing European authorities.
They want them and we do not, he said about migrants.
Hungary is a sovereign country and we take gas whenever we want and only we decide which way it will come to Hungary. When we decide on the route, the only criterion is where the greatest safety is guaranteed and we choose that route, Orban said.
Ukraine has condemned a recent Hungarian deal to deliver Russian gas via Turkish Stream and Serbia over the next 15 years, fearing that in combination with future deliveries via Nord Stream 2, it would be a sign that Ukraine would be left without transit of Russian gas.
It has nothing to do with Ukraine. It is a question of Hungary’s sovereignty, Orban said.
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