Hungary refuses to accept expelled migrants

Hungary will not accept the return of any migrant expelled from another country, Janos Lazar, head of the prime minister's office, told a news conference on Thursday.

Lazar argued most migrants had entered the European Union through Greece, whether or not they had been registered there, hence Greece is where the migrants would have to go.

Lazar reiterated Hungary was ready to offer protection to all political refugees who ask for it and had entered Hungary legally, submitting their applications at an official entry point. However, it will not accept a single economic migrant, he said.

He said he hoped Hungary's parliament would authorize the government to take the European Union decision on mandatory quotas to court.

Lazar said there were three reasons Hungary had successfully stemmed the flow of migrants: the security razor-wire fence, the active protection of borders by police and military forces, and changes in the legal system that allowed felony prosecution of anyone crossing the border illegally.

Lazar noted that to date about 400,000 migrants had crossed Hungary's borders illegally, a number that dropped to 4,000 along the Serbian border since security measures were imposed on Sept. 15.

On the Croatian border, the figure had gone down to fewer than 1,000 people since similar measures were introduced on Oct. 17.

Lazar charged the EU with "complete impotence," having failed to offer any rational response to the situation either at last Sunday's summit or at any time leading up to it.

Addressing Austria's border defense, Lazar said: "Austrian politicians are doing whatever they can to keep from calling their fence a fence." Endit