Speaking after a meeting of the defence committee Kósa told a news conference that the amendment proposal was in full compliance with the EU’s Schengen and Dublin agreements, adding that if passed by parliament, it would close all loopholes in the current asylum system he said migrants had been exploiting.

Kósa said that migrants whose asylum applications are not ruled on in 28 days are redirected from the transit zones to open reception centres somewhere else in the country, from where they often illegally travel on to Western Europe.

He said dozens of asylum-seekers had abused the system in this way, refusing to cooperate with the authorities and providing them with false details.

The committee also voted to prolong the state of emergency in place due to mass migration, said Kósa of ruling Fidesz. Tamás Harangozó, the committee’s (Socialist) deputy chairman, said it was “cynical and hypocritical” of the government to cite public security as the reason for tightening asylum regulations and prolonging the state of emergency, arguing that Ghaith Pharaon, a now deceased Saudi businessman wanted by the US for allegedly financing terrorism, had been granted a Schengen visa by Hungary.

Harangozó also argued that Hungary’s visa centre in Moscow had allegedly issued visas to some 4,000 Russian citizens without proper checks and that Hungarian authorities in Ukraine had granted visas to “thousands” of people who would have been ineligible for them.

MTI photo: Koszticsák Szilárd

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.