Hungary has wise words on the surge of migrants

LIKE the little boy who dared tell the Emperor he was wearing no clothes, one European leader voices the obvious truth about the migrant crisis. “The EU’s misguided immigration policy is responsible,” says Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

“Irresponsibility is the mark of every European politician who holds out the promise of a better life to immigrants and encourages them to leave everything behind and risk their lives in setting out for Europe.”

That comment may not make him a popular dinner guest in Berlin but his analysis is correct: Europe has created a problem for which it has no solution.

As crowds storm trains in Budapest, Mr Orbán goes further. “This is not a European problem, it’s a German problem. They all want to go to Germany.”

That is why Germany estimates 800,000 will seek asylum there this year while 5,000 migrants are at Calais trying to get to Britain. The fact is that unlike our overcrowded island, Germany welcomes migrants because its population is dwindling.

We should not allow ourselves to be emotionally blackmailed into feeling guilty that we are acting improperly by not letting even more illegal immigrants in. In the case of genuine refugees fleeing IS in Syria though David Cameron is right to say that it is one of our “moral responsibilities” to help.

However, this newspaper agrees with him and George Osborne that ultimately the jihadists who wage war in Syria and the criminal gangs of traffickers are the root of the problem. Europe has failed miserably to take them on.