Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban described the European Union’s debate over migration as a “bloodbath” on Tuesday deepening divisions within the bloc.
A day before he is due to address the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, Orban called for tougher controls on migration within the bloc.
He said: “I have been chest-deep in the bloodbath of the migration debate for quite some time.
“Since 2015, I have been saying the same thing: we can try all kinds of pacts, but there is only one way to control migration – the external hotspot.”
He added: “Until we can agree that anyone who can enter the EU must stop at the external borders of the EU and until their application is positively assessed, we will never stop migration.”
He claimed that if immigrants entered the bloc to have their asylum claims processed then they would “never leave”.
Orban added: ” I don’t know of any government that would collect them and unload them, I don’t know of any. The only immigrants who stay out are the ones we don’t let in.
“That is why I have been called an idiot or… evil since 2015. Not much of a choice. But in the end, there will be an agreement between states to have external hotspots.”
He emphasised the need for “strong leaders” in the EU and said the bloc was facing a dire situation.
Hungary took the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1 and will hold it until December 31 this year.
