As we reported in an earlier article, there is a major rescue operation ongoing to move Hungarian citizens stranded in civil-war-torn Sudan to safety. The rescue efforts are coordinated by the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and involve several embassies of allied, Western countries, and, among other agencies. the Hungarian Counter-Terrorism Centre (TEK).
Apart from causing tragic suffering for the locals and posing a major threat to foreign nationals living in Sudan, the civil war is unfortunately also expected to result in an increase in the number of people trying to enter the EU illegally.
This will add to the already extensive wave of migrants
who have been reported to have reached Libya on their way to the EU from other regions in Africa, the prime minister’s chief security advisor György Bakondi told public television news channel M1 on Monday.
According to György Bakondi, this poses a serious danger to the security of Europe, especially its social welfare system, as social tensions arise in the countries where the number of migrants reaches the critical limit. The changes associated with massive influxes are irreversible even at just 10 per cent, and the number of residents with a migration background is currently 18.4 per cent in Germany, he pointed out.
He said that migrants typically arrive in Europe by sea: the number of those leaving from the Turkish shores to the Greek islands and those heading from Turkey to Italy or departing from Libya or Tunisia are significantly increasing, and ‘ships rented by Soros organisations pick them up and take them to ports.’ With regard to the Hungarian border, Bakondi emphasised that it is experiencing ‘intense border violations.’ So far this year, authorities have caught 39,000 illegal border violators and more than 300 human traffickers.
The methods used are quite diverse: migrants primarily hide in trucks on the Hungarian-Romanian border section, and they attempt to cross the Danube by boat, so motorboat border checks are also carried out there, he noted. The security advisor highlighted that
human smuggling has become a big business,
and human smuggling groups realise enormous profits, operate huge networks, and have separate departments dealing with transportation, accommodation, equipment rental, and document forgery.
‘That’s why we emphasise that the fight against human smuggling gangs can only be successful with international cooperation: a cooperation between international police and intelligence services,’ he said. He added that the Hungarian government is a partner in this, doing everything it can to uncover organised crime and impede unlawful activities.
Bakondi also spoke about the fact that although European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and head of the European People’s Party group in the EP Manfred Weber have both recently spoken about strengthening the EU’s external borders and ensuring the necessary funding, ‘these are just words,’ as there is no trace of those efforts in either financing or legislation, while Hungary is facing legal proceedings over its border control system.
As opposed to that,
the efforts of the member states are pointing in another direction,
with the Austrian government, for one, drawing attention to the extremely difficult situation related to the Balkans route and also making proposals at the recent meeting of heads of state and government, he said. The advisor emphasised that ‘if we want to maintain all the benefits of the Schengen area, we really have to make serious efforts to guard the external borders.’
Bakondi was a guest on public Kossuth radio’s programme Good Morning Hungary as well, where he explained that the European Parliament’s resolutions related to the migration regulation package are unacceptable. The chief advisor reiterated that the Hungarian government objects to the introduction of mandatory quotas for the distribution, reception, and care of migrants, as well as the monitoring of border security forces by civilians to report any ‘irregularities committed’ when turning migrants away from the border.
