With Turkey announcing it will open its borders to Syria and allow migrants to pass into Europe unhindered even as coronavirus cases in the Middle East rise, the Hungarian government has committed to protecting its people.
Speaking on Kossuth Radio, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán warned that with the coronavirus already established in Italy and other European countries, “it has to be said that the virus will also appear in Hungary.”
The Fidesz leader promised that his government was “in charge of it, working 24 hours a day,” and that a special operations unit focused on prevention had been established a month ago.
“All important information will be shared. The Hungarian team consists of internationally outstanding professionals,” he said,
With the Turkish government having just announced that it will open its borders to Syria and allow migrants to pass straight through to Europe unhindered, however, Orbán was at pains to stress that the coronavirus is not the only challenge the continent is facing.
“Despite all the attention the coronavirus is attracting, migration remains a historical challenge. The upward flow [of migrants] from the south is a historical trend, and we stand in the way,” he said.
“Where will the flow from the south be stopped? I have always maintained that the invasion of migratory masses is wave-like,” he continued.
“We must expect another migratory wave and mass attack on the Hungarian border fence, [and] the Hungarian border must be protected.”
The threat of a coronavirus pandemic and the threat of the migrant crisis in Europe escalating back to its 2015-16 heights should not necessarily be considered as entirely separate, however, with the illegal, unregulated flow of hundreds of thousands of people from the Middle East potentially serving as a new vector for the virus.
Asked by Breitbart London what the Hungarian government was doing to prepare for this twin threat, specifically, a spokesman for the Cabinet Office vowed that “Hungary’s border and the Hungarian people must be protected.”
“Regardless of the sizes of migrant flows, the Hungarian border policing organisations are able to operate and maintain a secure border fence,” he insisted.