“I don’t want to share the problem of Westerners,” Viktor Orban declared in a video shared to his social media October 28, referring to the illegal immigration issue the European Union has placed upon its members. “They messed it up, that’s the problem. They have to fix it.”
He reported in the interview that the EU wishes to "send a few thousand migrants to Hungary and they want to oblige Hungary to build migrant camps which they will fill with the migrants they let in."
“Brussels chose to support #migration, and now that the toothpaste is out of the tube, they want us to shoulder the burden. This is impossible! We will not risk the safety of #Hungary and the Hungarian people!” He wrote on X.
Around 250,000 immigrants have arrived this far in the EU collectively this year.
Just last month in mid-October, a Tunisian Muslim man who was in Belgium illegally carried out a deadly Islamist attack in Brussels, shooting and killing two Swedish tourists. He had been repeatedly ordered to leave the country but authorities were unable to take action due to the man not having an address.
In addition, a shooting between immigrants towards the end of October along the Hungarian-Serbian border left three dead. Violence and gun battles from immigrants camping in the area have reportedly become common.
In an attempt to overhaul the longstanding EU migration system, a new migration pact was introduced. However, it has been met with strong resistance from countries such as Poland and Hungary as it is too lax on illegal immigrants. They continue to refuse to support it or accept any immigrants from the Middle East and Africa.
The pact, first proposed by the commission in September 2020, is expected to take effect in April 2024 according to the EU’s official website.
It states “The Pact … is designed to manage and normalise migration for the long term, providing certainty, clarity and decent conditions for people arriving in the EU. It also seeks to establish a common approach to migration and asylum that is based on solidarity, responsibility, and respect for human rights.”
It has also met criticism from conservative officials within the EU including Manfred Weber, the head of the centre-right European People's Party group in the European Parliament.
"Those who are not allowed to stay in the EU must leave Europe. That must be enforced," he said. "This is a wake-up call for those who are not ready to accept ... the migration pact."
