Off the wire
• Portuguese airline TAP sees losses deepen in H1  • Roundup: Chinese Taipei eliminated after two games at FIBA Asian Championships  • Refugee issue not only German challenge: Merkel  • WTA Guangzhou Open results  • Spotlight: Economic engagement highlighted during Xi's first stop in U.S.  • Albania invests 4 bln USD in infrastructure during past 20 years: minister  • Portuguese gov't welcomes draft Libya agreement  • Cattle rustlers kill 35 in central north Nigeria: witness  • LME base metals mostly rise on Thursday  • 2nd LD: powerful quake strikes off Papua, Indonesia, no tsunami warning issued  
You are here: 　 Home

Hungary ready to let asylum-seekers through to Austria: PM Office chief

Xinhua, September 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

Hungary believes it can keep refugees from coming through the European Union's outer borders (Schengen borders), but if Austria doesn't like the method, Hungary will let them through, prime minister's office chief Janos Lazar told a news conference here Thursday.

Lazar was responding to a statement by Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann, who said that if a fence is the price of keeping out migrants, Hungary would do better to let them through.

Lazar warned that there were as many as 30,000-40,000 people at Hungary's and Croatia's borders, but said the government would consider the idea.

Otherwise, Lazar said that the cabinet planned to ask parliament to debate the quota system called for by the European Union. He called the quota system an example of "moral imperialism" forced on Europe by Germany.

The Hungarian government believes that a quota system is a seriously wrong decision, he said.

Lazar said that defense of the border with Croatia was currently on the agenda and that Hungary would hold ongoing consultations with the heads of neighboring countries. Wire service MTI reported that a razor wire fence was going up along the Slovenian border, with work started on Thursday.

"We need to speak with Austria to see how they envisage that very serious comment," Lazar said, adding that when the question of covering the costs comes up, they cannot answer it.

He noted that in the 24 hours from Wednesday midnight to Thursday, Hungary broke an all-time record in receiving refugees with over 10,000 people entering the country. Almost all came through Croatia, he added. As of the end of Wednesday 242,000 people had crossed into Hungary seeking refuge, he said.

Lazar warned of the security risk of allowing that number of people to enter the European Union.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Viktor Orban is set to travel to Vienna on Friday to meet with his Austrian counterpart Werner Faymann and other officials, Bertalan Havasi, chief of the Prime Minister's Media Office said. Lazar and Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto will go along with him, Havasi added. Endit