In turn, committee chair Zsolt Molnár, of the opposition Socialists, said that, in addition to soldiers and police officers, members of the public should also be trained for special events. He criticised the 2016 budget bill for not including a sufficient allocation for the prevention of terrorist acts.

Molnár said that the government is trying to threaten people with the massive inflow of migrants. He insisted that there is no connection between terrorism and immigration.

Pintér told the hearing that most of the refugees arriving in Hungary are escaping from Islamic State but if land operations against IS are successful, then most probably terrorists will be applying for refugee status.

People committing acts of terrorism and receiving training for such acts should in any case be prevented from “replicating in Europe as cancerous cells” and threatening the lives of citizens within the Schengen borders, he said.

Pintér said around 100,000 migrants are expected to arrive in Hungary by the end of this year. They will pose a serious burden on the country, the authorities and also the budget, he said.

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MTI photo: Bruzák Noémi