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Hungary Calls for More Resettlement Talks for Refugees From Turkey in EU

© AFP 2023 / LOUISA GOULIAMAKISisters walk on railway tracks where refugees installed their tents at the makeshift camp of the Greek-Macedonian border near the Greek village of Idomeni, on March 5, 2016, where thousands of refugees and migrants wait to cross the border into Macedonia
Sisters walk on railway tracks where refugees installed their tents at the makeshift camp of the Greek-Macedonian border near the Greek village of Idomeni, on March 5, 2016, where thousands of refugees and migrants wait to cross the border into Macedonia - Sputnik International
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Budapest is calling for further negotiations on the issue of resettling Syrian refugees from Turkey in the European Union, as the plan goes against European and Hungarian interests, government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs told Sputnik on Tuesday.

Czech police officers with a dog observe the border between Greece and Macedonia near Gevgelija on February 8, 2016 - Sputnik International
Czech Police Practice Deterring Migrant Flows on Austrian Border
MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday, the Turkey-EU summit on migration took place in Brussels. Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants that had arrived to the European Union and send in their place legal Syrian refugees to the bloc on one-for-one basis in exchange for the acceleration of visa liberalization negotiations and EU accession talks.

"We believe that it [the resettlement of people] is against Hungarian and EU interests, so further negotiations are in need to be able to handle this situation," Kovacs said.

The migration agreement and cessation of the influx of illegal refugees also puts an end to the Balkan route used by migrants who traveled from Greece through Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary to Austria and Germany.

"We are pleased that finally the political will is to close the illegal border crossings and catch the chain of human trafficking at the Western Balkan route," the spokesman said.

The European Union is currently struggling to manage a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa for Europe.

Last year, EU members states decided to redistribute some 160,000 migrants across the bloc. Hungary, along with Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, opposes the implementation of the mandatory EU quota scheme for relocating refugees.

In February, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced that a national referendum would be held on the issue. Kovacs told Sputnik earlier this month that the vote was likely to take place by early fall.

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