The Hungarian government “had to” make a decision to expel convicted people smugglers from the country because “Brussels refuses to contribute to border control costs but fines Hungary if its prisons are overcrowded”, a state secretary of the interior ministry told MTI on Tuesday.
Bence Rétvári said the European Union owed Hungary over 1.5 billion euros in return for Hungary protecting the bloc’s external borders. He insisted that the EU had only refunded one percent of that “unbelievably large total”. “We stop illegal migrants at our southern border, and we apprehend and then keep in prison the people smugglers,” he added. The EU does not contribute to the expenditure of Hungarian prisons “but they expect us to keep foreign people smugglers at the expense of Hungarian taxpayers,” he said.
The some 2,000 people smugglers heve been convicted in Hungary so far, contributing to prison overcrowding, Retvari said, and noted that Hungary had faced European procedures because of “inhumane prison conditions”. He also added that the cost of keeping one convict in prison amounted to an annual 5 million forints (EUR 13,300). The decision to expel 808 convicts, mostly nationals of neighbouring countries, was aimed at “saving Hungarian taxpayers from having to pay the cost of keeping them in Hungarian prisons”, he said.
So funny. First we get the “Mexico will pay for that wall!” shtick (spoiler: if you do not negotiate this up front, it’s not happening), then we have the Politicians bragging “we’re catching these people smugglers – very difficult job, but it’s being done!”, to then … Turn them all loose ??? With the excuse of not wanting to put this “expense on the Hungarian people” ???
Insanity. Whichever way you spin this.
Orbán should open up the “iron curtain” and let the immigrants storm Austria and Germany.
It is deplorable by the EU politicians for not supporting Hungary for their own security when over the last five years they continually force the Hungarian taxpayer to pay for Western Europe’s security.
Those unwanted immigrants in Serbia are not interested in staying in Hungary, just like in the past they would want to go to Germany.
If only Hungary would open their borders, Berlin would soon reverse Brussels’s thinking.
@Nick – nobody is “forcing” us to do anything. It’s our (Politician’s) choice.
Furthermore – we should be worried that nobody (including all of those Ukrainians we are helping) wants to stay in Hungary. Even our talented youngsters (educated at great expense to the Hungarian taxpayer) are leaving for the rest of Europe in significant numbers. Now, why is that?
The purpose of the Hungarian government in releasing people smugglers is actually quite malicious. Russian strategy since the Syrian war refugee crisis that began in 2015 is to use refugees to create disruption and political division in Western Europe. They were funneling refugees through Belarus into Poland more recently. These smugglers from Serbia, Romania and Ukraine will not return to their home countries. Hungary will end up expelling them to Western Europe where they can precipitate resume their operations. Right-wing extremist politicians will use the refugee crisis to amplify their attraction. This is what Orban wants. Austria thus has been outraged by the decision as that country sees itself on the front-line for these smugglers and has now set up new border checks.