Hungary’s Migration Research Institute, the Center for Immigration Studies and NumbersUSA, the Israeli Immigration Policy Center, and the Observatoire de l’immigration et de la démographie aim to cooperate and “integrate their knowledge and skills in a network”, Viktor Marsai, head of the Hungarian institute, said.

The network will organise conferences and present publications in an effort to “counterbalance approaches to migration based solely on humanitarian aspects, which have in the past decades overpowered public opinion,” Marsai said.

Other aspects such as security and the economic and cultural impacts on recipient societies should also be considered in the discourse on migration, he said.

Marsai also spoke about “the importance” of national sovereignty “so that states can determine whom they want to grant entry to and whom to deny this,” he added.

Meanwhile, Orbán Says New Asylum Regulation Needed to Counter Growing Migration Pressure

Hungary must protect its southern border and it must protect its position in Brussels, he said. Additionally, regulations on migration must be tightened in response to the increasing pressure of migration, he added.

The current regulations were suitable to handle the 2015 migration crisis but since the pressure of migration was now increasing, stricter rules were needed, he said.

Orbán said the new asylum law must clearly define the legal grounds and the circle of people allowed to reside in Hungary, and the law must be strongly enforced, he said.

The prime minister said that unless the legal grounds and timeframe for foreign stays in Hungary were clearly defined, “they will steal the country from us”. “Hungary belongs to Hungarians, including jobs here and the right to decide how to live,” he said. Orbán said parliament would adopt the legislation by year-end.

On the topic of the National Consultation public opinion surveys, Orbán said they served unity.

“Power and the state as an entity in a community is defined by its ability to act in unison and to ensure that there is consensus on the most important issues, and that action is taken in view of the opinions formed in the process.”

Referendums, parliamentary elections and the National Consultation surveys “are the basis of that joint action, and strengthen it”, he said.

Click here to know more about Hungary’s Migration Research Institute​​​​