Szijjarto warns of rapid rise in migration on Balkans route

The number of migrants attempting to illegally enter the European Union through the Western Balkans is rising rapidly and has exceeded 82,000 to date this year, Hungary's foreign ministry cited the minister, Peter Szijjarto, as saying at a Vienna conference on migration on Tuesday. Attempts to cross the border are recorded day by day in Hungary, he said, noting that the government had spent 1.2 billion euros on defending the borders since 2015. Szijjarto noted that six years ago the European Union had harshly criticised Hungary's government for erecting a fence along the southern border, with some going as far as to compare the country to the darkest dictatorial regimes of the 20th century. "Now the same countries are roundly praising those who are building fences to defend the EU's external borders," he said.