Hungary, EU disagree on migration

By Mehmet Yilmaz, Meryem Goktas

BUDAPEST, Hungary

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said leaders who joined an EU summit on Friday disagreed on resettlement and immigration of asylum seekers, defining it as “political close combat”.

Orban, who attended the summit in Brussels, said via social media the leaders agreed on border protection and that asylum seekers should be stopped outside the border, stating that disagreements occurred over the division of asylum seekers in Europe.

"There are still many large and strong forces who do not want to stop migration, but want to bring migrants into Europe and afterwards distribute them on a compulsory basis," he said.

"Accordingly, they want to relocate strangers and migrants to Hungary, despite the fact that we do not want this at all," he added.

Orban stated that Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary “fought well” but could not convince their opponents.

On Thursday, Orban announced that the Visegrad Group partners, a cultural and political alliance that also includes the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia, decided on cooperating with Italy by financially supporting the protection of sea borders.

In 2015, Hungary installed razor-wire fences on its borders with Serbia and Croatia to stop the refugee flow.

Additionally, it implemented stiffer penalties, including jail time, for illegal crossings and announced a state of emergency in border areas.