Máté Kocsis told parliament’s national security committee that a report assessing the connection between illegal migration and terrorism, compiled by the intelligence services, should be made public.

The body supported the proposal and the document will soon be published, Kocsis said on Facebook, insisting that the situation along Hungary’s southern border with Serbia “clearly shows how Brussels’s irresponsible migration policy has increased the threat of terrorism” and noting “the increasing appearance of weapons” in the area.

Violent, armed attacks compromising the security of border control staff “have become a daily occurrence,” he insisted. “We will use every facility against terrorism!” Kocsis said in his post.

Official: National Consultation Needed Because of Disputes with Brussels

The government has decided to launch a National Consultation because of disputes with institutions in Brussels that affect Hungary’s economy and security, the state secretary of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office said on Saturday.

In a video message posted on Facebook, Csaba Dömötör said the nationwide survey was also necessary to ensure “decisions about the future remain in our own hands”.

“We’re being pressured to give more money for the Russian-Ukrainian war, which is not exactly an effort to advance peace,” he said.

Brussels also wants the Hungarian government to accept a new migration package that not only relocates migrants but requires they be allowed to immigrate even before their asylum applications are weighed, he added.

“The significance of this can’t be overstated, considering the recent terrorist attacks in Europe and shootings on our southern border,” he said.

Touching on economic issues that will be addressed in the National Consultation, he said the government’s position was that families shouldn’t have to shoulder the burdens of the crisis, while companies that rake in windfall profits should “take their fair share of the burden”.

In contrast, Brussels wants to eliminate support for household utilities fees, interest rate freezes and the windfall profit tax, which would mean an “enormous additional expenditure” for families, he added.

The government will also ask people to weigh in on Brussels’ request for more money from the government even as it withholds money due the country, he said. Questions to be included in the National Consultation will be presented in detail in coming days, he added.

Orbán: Change Needed in Brussels

Change is needed in Brussels because the current leaders of the EU are unfit to handle the fluid situation in Ukraine and migration, the Hungarian prime minister attending an EU summit said.

Viktor Orbán said a new strategy for Ukraine was needed, which is why changes were needed in the EU leadership, which may be secured in the upcoming European Parliament elections.

“In times of peace … these would be good leaders, but now when there are … giant waves, we certainly won’t succeed with the current leaders,” he said in the public media centre in Brussels.

European leaders able to coordinate the work of prime ministers in difficult times must be sought in the EP elections.

Changes, he said, were also needed in the EU in connection with migration and economic policy because Brussels had come forward with “such impossible proposals” such as a demand that Hungary abolish its schemes subsidising household energy bills, taxing excessive bank profits and the interest rate cap “which protects families”.

He said the seriousness of the situation called for another National Consultation survey. He said the public survey was “a good way of asking some very serious questions … and to give an opportunity to people to express their opinion.”

‘Migration Support Equals Terrorism Support’

Hungary is opposed to terrorism, so it is also opposed to migration, the prime minister said in Brussels.

“Those who support migration also support terrorism,” Viktor Orbán said ahead of a two-day European Union summit. Orbán said he hoped decision-makers in Brussels would also “realise that there is an clear connection between terrorist acts and migration”.

The EU, he said, wanted member states to give more money for migration-related policy and to Ukraine, but Hungary refused to give money to migrants. Neither would it give money to Ukraine unless the request was well-founded, he said, adding that the current proposals lacked professional or political supporting arguments.

“It won’t work giving more money; we will refuse this,” he said.

Asked about the war in Ukraine, Orbán said Hungary had a peace plan and would keep all communication channels open with Russia in hope that it would be accepted. Hungary, he added, was the only country that stood for peace, which was “in the interest of all Europeans”.

Bóka Slams European Migration Policy Protecting the community’s external borders is “key for the debate on migration” within the European Union, but “the EU’s concept is not comprehensive”, it cannot be used to reduce the number of migrants entering Europe, János Bóka, Hungary’s EU affairs minister, said in an interview published online by German daily Die Welt.

According to Bóka, the EU’s position was getting closer to that of the Hungarian government “but debates are still not aimed at granting entry to those people only that have the right to enter Europe”. Bóka said eliminating the networks of human traffickers called for bilateral agreements with countries in Africa and the Middle East under which they would accommodate the illegal migrants returned from Europe.

Bóka said that the Visegrad Group – Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland – shared a position on migration, adding that other countries such as Austria and Denmark that “offer solutions similar to those of Hungary”. “The position of the German government is vastly different, however,” Bóka said.

Bóka: 'It Should Be Up to Us Whom to Allow In'

“It should be up to us whom to allow into Europe, and this principle should inform European migration policy,” János Bóka, Hungary’s EU affairs minister told Portuguese daily Diario de Noticias. In the interview published on Thursday, the minister said the EU’s external borders should be reinforced.

“There’s no migration policy if you can’t decide who should and shouldn’t be let in,” he said.

Asked about Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin in China, Bóka said diplomacy required “talking to partners, rivals, or even enemies”. “It would be bad diplomacy to restrict dialogue only to those we see eye to eye with.”

Regarding the government’s position on the war in Ukraine, he said Hungary “firmly holds the line that Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected. We also think that military conflict must be stopped by way of a ceasefire.”

Concerning the war between Israel and Hamas, Bóka said: “We stand by Israel. These are terrorist attacks committed by a terrorist organisation … Israel has the right to defend itself.”

Concerning Hungary’s frozen EU funds, Bóka said European procedures against Hungary were unfounded because “those concerns about the rule of law” were inapplicable.

He said Hungary was committed to European unity “at a time when the geopolitical situation is extremely fragile, and the EU should reflect unity and strength to save our values and promote our interests.”