LOCKED OUT
Migrants are left stranded as Hungary takes steps to seal border
THOUSANDS of migrants were left stranded last night after Hungary finally sealed its 110-mile border with Serbia.
They had failed in a race against time to make it into the European Union before the completion of a fourmetre razor-wire fence.
They now face tough new laws that punish breaches of the border with three years in jail. Hungary has also started turning away asylum seekers who have come through Serbia.
Prime minister Viktor Orban insists he is acting to save Europe’s ‘Christian values’ by blocking the main overland route used by those travelling through the Balkans to reach the EU. But Serbian officials accused Hungary of treating their country as a ‘ concentration camp’. Amnesty International said Hungary was ‘showing the ugly face of Europe’s shambolic response’ to the migrant crisis.
Arguments between EU leaders over how to handle the massive influx intensified yesterday as Berlin called for financial penalties against countries that refuse to sign up to quotas to take their share of migrants. Hours later Chancellor Angela Merkel was forced to distance herself from the threat after Slovakia warned the penalties would bring the ‘end of the EU’.
Austria last night said it would set up checkpoints on its borders with Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia as the EU’s passport-free travel zone, the Schengen, continued to unravel following the abrupt reintroduction of controls by Germany.
It was also revealed last night that the EU’s border guard agency lavished more than £250,000 on an away- day with a marching band and dog-handling displays as it was supposed to be tackling the migrant crisis.
Poland-based Frontex – which has a £105million budget to co- ordinate the security of the Schengen area – spent the money in May during the annual European Day For Border Guards celebrations in Warsaw, including £40,000 on a dinner scheduled to run until 2am.
Long queues formed yesterday on Serbia’s border with Hungary, which serves as the external boundary of the EU. Those who sought to register for refuge were almost immediately rejected.
Under its new rules, Hungary will automatically deny asylum claims at the border with Serbia because it has deemed its neighbour a ‘safe’ country for refugees.
‘If someone is a refugee, we will ask them whether they have submitted an asylum request in Serbia. If they had not done so, given that Serbia is a safe country, they will be rejected,’ Mr Orban told Hungarian television. His government heralded ‘the start of a new era to stop the inflow of illegal migrants’.
The United Nations disputed the
‘The start of a new era’
definition of Serbia as safe, saying the poor ex-Yugoslav state lacked the capacity to house the thousands being turned back at Europe’s gates.
Hungary says Germany accelerated the flow of migrants by announcing last month that it would take in Syrian refugees regardless of where they entered the EU. Berlin reversed the decision on Sunday after the country became overwhelmed.
Mrs Merkel said she would not ‘apologise for showing a friendly face in emergencies’. Her poll rating has slipped however.
Horst Seehofer, the leader of her government’s coalition partner the CSU, said her policy was ‘a mistake that will occupy us for a long time’.
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