Only int'l cooperation can resolve migration issue: Hungarian minister

The only way to resolve Europe's migration crisis is through international cooperation, Hungary's Interior Minister Sandor Pinter said Monday, during a send-off ceremony for Slovenia-bound police.

Pinter reiterated Hungary's position that the external borders of the European Union needed to be secured to halt the deluge of migrants sweeping into the EU illegally.

"They have to be stopped on the outer border," he said, explaining why Hungary was sending 50 police officers to Slovenia, to the towns of Maribor and Murska Sobota, to help manage the inflow of asylum-seekers, maintain order and prevent crime.

Hungary, said Pinter, was one of the first countries to offer assistance to Slovenia after itself receiving help from neighboring Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland to halt the inflow of migrants into Hungary.

Pinter argued that Hungary was the only European Union member to respond to the migration crisis on the basis of EU law and the demands of the Schengen border protection agreement. Hungary, he said, "responded lawfully and successfully to lawbreaking initiatives."

The current EU responses are not good, he noted, because they created false illusions among the migrants, were causing internal tension within the European Union members, and disputes between the different countries in the Schengen zone. Endit