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Hungarian cabinet instructs interior minister to prepare Serbian border closure

Xinhua, June 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Hungarian cabinet has instructed Interior Minister Sandor Pinter to prepare a 4-meter-high fence to close the border with Serbia, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto told media on Wednesday.

According to Hungarian News Agency MTI, Pinter has been instructed to have plans for the fence ready by next Wednesday. The border section is 175 km long.

Szijjarto said that a Hungarian-Serbian summit meeting was scheduled for July 1 when Hungary planned to brief Serbia on the measure. He added that the move did not violate any international law or treaty.

Szijjarto called the illegal migration issue one of the most serious challenges the European Union (EU) was facing.

While the EU has been seeking a resolution to the problem, it appears to be a time-consuming and lengthy process, he noted, adding that Hungary had found it necessary to act on its own.

Compared to its population, about 10 million, and GDP, Hungary has one of the most serious problems in the EU, ruling Fidesz party executive vice president Lajos Kosa said recently.

Last year, over 42,000 immigrants entered Hungary illegally, mostly from Serbia, and this year the number is expected to exceed 100,000, he added.

Security policy expert Gyorgy Nogradi told national TV channel M1 that the move was a necessary one, and one that other EU countries have employed.

Immigrants traveling by sea aim for Greece and Italy, but those traveling overland aim for Hungary, which is on the outer border of the EU. Once Hungary's fence is in place, he added, it will be up to Serbia to block its own border with Macedonia. Nogradi said. Endit