Hungary to build second border fence with Serbia

The government spokesman’s office confirmed a report published in pro-government newspaper Magyar Idok.

“Although the EU-Turkey agreement is prevailing and the Western Balkan route is closed, we expect the migration pressure to appear at any moment at our southern borders,” Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after meeting his Romanian counterpart, Teodor Melescanu. “For this reason, we are strengthening the defense of our southern border.”

Orban, a supporter of Donald Trump, wants to stem the flow of migrants into Hungary and suggested in September 2016 that he was planning the construction of a second barrier along the Serbian border, because “one fence is not enough”.

The government says that while the number of migrants seeking to enter Hungary had dropped somewhat since 2015, border police still have to stop hundreds of people from illegally crossing the border every day.

At the height of the immigration flood, in September 2015, as many as 10 000 migrants were apprehended by Hungarian police on some days.

In response to the German-manufactured crisis, Orban built a first barrier in 2015, as Hungary was part of the main influx route for the migrant deluge into Europe from parts of the Middle East and Central Asia.

A government spokesman confirmed that Hungary was building an additional fence on its southern border with Serbia. Construction of the second fence is already being prepared, and Orban’s chief of staff, Janos Lazar, said. He added that the government has planned to build new migrant camps with foreigners being housed in shipping containers.

Lazar reminded the media that Hungary was under a state of emergency over mass migration.

In a strongly-worded speech before Hungarian business leaders on Tuesday in Budapest, Orban said that “ethnic homogeneity” was key for economic success and that “too much mixing causes trouble”.

Orban’s policies have drawn criticism from outside observers, with Human Rights Watch sending a complaint on Friday to the EU Migration Commissioner over the country’s proposed policies.

Liberal interventionists and members of the EU complained about the “state of human rights” under Orban. A European Parliament committee is now planning to discuss the “state of fundamental rights” in the country.

“The European Commission should not stand by while Hungary makes a mockery of the right to seek asylum,” Human Rights Watch deputy director Bejamin Ward said. “Using transit zones as detention centers and forcing asylum seekers who are already inside Hungary back to the Serbian side of the razor-wire fence is abusive, pointless and cruel.”

Some 400 000 migrants had reached Hungary from the south before the border fences were erected.