EU executive says Hungary might get more border money – but not for fences
The EU’s executive said on Friday it might consider giving more cash to Hungary for border protection – but not for a fence – and suggested Prime Minister Viktor Orban was asking for “solidarity” from the bloc without showing enough of it himself.
Budapest said on Thursday it would ask the European Commission for about 400 million euros to cover half of the cost Hungary has incurred for border management.
It has fortified its borders with Serbia and EU state Croatia with a fence, police and troops, and says it is protecting the rest of EU from illegal migration.
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But Hungary has refused to take in a single asylum-seeker under a 2015 EU-wide plan meant to alleviate the burden on Greece and Italy, struggling with mass arrivals. It has been backed by Poland in a bitter dispute within the bloc.
Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein told a briefing on Friday the Commission would swiftly analyse any additional request for border funding from Hungary, but added:
“We are not financing the construction of fences or barriers at the external borders. We do support border management measures at the external borders – this can be surveillance measures, this can be border control equipment.
“But fences, we do not finance.”
Some 1.7 million irregular migrants have reached EU shores since 2014 after perilous voyages across the Mediterranean. The bloc has tightened its migration policies but many in the bloc call Orban’s fences inhumane.
“We take note that the Hungarian government now acknowledges that solidarity is an important principle of the EU,” Winterstein said.
“Solidarity is a two-way street and all member states should be ready to contribute. This is not some sort of an ‘a la carte menu’ where you pick one dish, for example border management, whilst refusing another dish, like … relocation.”
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Germany, which has taken in the majority of the people who have made it to Europe, also reminded Hungary on Friday that solidarity should be reciprocal.
The EU’s top court, the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice, is due to rule on Sept. 6 on a case brought by Hungary and Slovakia asking it to declare the EU’s relocation scheme illegal.
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