Parliament’s National Security Committee held a closed-door meeting on Wednesday to discuss the situation arising from migration pressure on the Greek-Turkish border.

Head of the committee János Stummer (Jobbik) said that if necessary, Hungary would be ready to build another border fence.

The (Fidesz) deputy head of the committee, János Halász, said illegal migration dominated national security issues. The Fidesz group called for future committee meetings to focus on illegal migration, he said.

He insisted that 100,000 migrants were ready to travel from Turkey to the European Union, while there were “hundreds of thousands” of migrants in the Western Balkans. Many, he added, were “attacking the Hungarian border”.

Over the past two months, Hungary has witnessed the most border violations, he said.

Halász said the ruling party’s group “firmly supports” government measures to bolster border surveillance and close transit zones due to the danger of the new coronavirus.

He said Hungary also supports European Union help for countries, including Greece and Hungary, in protecting Europe’s borders.

Péter Ungár, delegated to the committee by opposition LMP, said after the session that restoring the agreement between the European Union and Turkey was of paramount importance, so that Turkey should retain migrants on its territory. Ungár also called for EU help for Greece in protecting the community’s borders on land and at sea.

Answering a question, Ungár called Hungary’s fence along its border with Serbia an “effective and good institution”, adding that Hungary’s border police were “well-prepared” for their job.

Featured photo illustration by Zoltán Gergely Kelemen/MTI