MOSCOW (Sputnik) — EU countries amid the ongoing migration crisis are confusing refugees with economic migrants, Hungarian ambassador in Moscow Janos Balla said.
"All these misunderstandings which happened in the past are based on the fact that many participants… are confusing the ‘refugees’ and ‘migrants’ categories. On the Hungarian side we always accepted refugees based on international law. Hungary continues to accept refugees. The misunderstanding happens due to the fact that the phenomenon we are witnessing now is a phenomenon of economic migrants. They are not refugees," Balla told RIA Novosti.
According to the diplomat, most people who reach the borders of Europe are not refugees but economic migrants.
"Those who consider themselves refugees are now very close to the border of Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, they live on the Turkish side, Jordan, Lebanon. Indeed many millions of people are there, they are refugees," Balla stressed.
Amid the major migrant crisis in Europe, Hungary, used by tens of thousands of migrants as a gateway to wealthy EU member states, has built fences along the country’s Croatian, Romanian and Slovenian, as well as Serbian borders.
The Hungarian government repeatedly proposed tougher measures on migration, including three-year prison sentences for crossing the border illegally.
Hungary's tough asylum policy was condemned by Brussels and various international rights groups, which claimed that Budapest's approach would not solve the crisis.
