“The Hungarian authorities will continue to perform all procedures according to European law and protocol even after the closure of the green border; the relative ministries, the office of immigration and the police are prepared to handle the situation”, Zoltán Kovács said during a press conference held at the border crossing station of Röszke.

However, he also pointed out that in future everyone who has not previously submitted a request for asylum in Serbia will be turned back.

According to Mr. Kovács, the meeting of EU Ministers of Interior held in Brussels in Monday ended encouragingly, but the standpoint of the Hungarian Government remains that there is no point talking about the distribution of refugees until Europe is capable of defending its borders.

“This requires help from the EU at the most critical points, such as Greece, and Hungary is ready to contribute to this”, he added.

“The Government also thinks it is necessary to set up a fund to help countries around the crisis zone so assistance can be provided to refugees in locations where they are still in fact refugees”, Mr. Kovács said.

The Hungarian authorities have satisfied the requirements set down in the Dublin Agreement, meaning they have registered everyone who has crossed the border, the Spokespersons said, but stressed that it was precisely the resistance of migrants that had made this procedure more difficult in recent weeks.

The Prime Minister’s Chief Advisor on homeland security, György Bakondi, said that all conditions are in place for the successful handling of the crisis, especially in view of the fact that the authorities apprehended some 9 thousand illegal border crossers on Monday alone, and the relative proposal has been put before the Cabinet.

According to Mr. Bakondi, an official point of entry has been established at Tompa, where migrants can submit their requests for asylum and await a subsequent ruling.

However, people who are caught entering the country illegally via the green border will have court proceedings launched against them according to an accelerated procedure. Cases will be judged on site, Mr. Bakondi said.

Source: kormany.hu

MTI photo: Balázs Mohai