State Secretary: Brussels must also welcome migrants

For almost a decade, Hungary has protected the EU’s external border, spending more than 2 billion euros of its own money to meet its Schengen obligations, the state secretary said on X, citing a letter by Tamás Iván Kovács, Hungary’s ambassador to Belgium, to the Socialist mayor of Brussels, Phillippe Close. “[I]t is Hungary, not Brussels, that has suffered from a lack of solidarity,” Kovács said, adding that all it got in return for rigorously protecting the EU border was a fine of 200 million euros. “Hungary will not compromise its national security or bear this burden alone, especially when Brussels seems to desire migrants only as long as they remain in other EU member states,” he said, adding that the call for solidarity was not just rhetorical, but “a demand for fair treatment and genuine support from the EU”. In his letter to Close, Hungary’s ambassador asked the mayor for his solidarity and support in ensuring that the EU did not penalise countries that comply with the Schengen Agreement and protect their external borders.