Introducing the draft amendment, Antal Rogán, head of the parliamentary group of ruling Fidesz, said Europe has basically “abandoned the Schengen treaty” over the past few days as internal borders are being closed one after the other in the EU.

Hungary, too, will close its borders on the south. He said Serbia was one of the “safe” third countries and Hungary should not grant asylum to entrants from that country. Earlier on Wednesday, the government ordered the interior minister to prepare construction of a 4-metre fence along Hungary’s border with Serbia.

Socialist spokesman Tamás Harangozó said the amendment was nothing more than “cheap propaganda” and would solve nothing. He said the authorities already had a legal mandate to arrest those who arrive without documents until their asylum request is processed.

After Harangozó’s remarks, the party’s lawmakers left the chamber. Later in the day, Socialist leader József Tóbiás said the fence would not be appropriate to resolve the migration issue, and insisted that the border, even without a fence, could be controlled using modern equipment. “Barbed wire needs to be removed from Europe rather than set up,” Tóbiás said.

He called for joint European efforts to protect refugees as well as to protect Hungary from illegal migrants. “That requires common sense and technical consultations (with other EU members)”, he said. Gábor Fodor, leader of the Liberal Party, said Hungary should not worsen its international reputation by taking a position favouring segregation, which is against the European mainstream.

Zsolt Gréczy, spokesman for the leftist opposition Democratic Coalition (DK), told a press conference that it was “a lie” that refugees were swarming into the country and it was also untrue that taxpayers would have to foot the bill of their shelter and food.

He said DK wanted to know the cost of setting up a fence along the Serbian border, as well as the cost of staffing the border patrol, and whether the soldiers had an order to shoot or whether electric fences would be fitted.

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