Hungary's Orban Tells Europe to Brace for New Migration Crisis
14:52 GMT 08.07.2021 (Updated: 13:59 GMT 05.08.2022)
© AFP 2023 / ALBERTO PIZZOLIMigrants warmed by emergency blankets arrive on a boat of the Italian Guardia Di Finanza law enforcement agency on May 17, 2021 to disembark on the southern Italian Pelagie Island of Lampedusa. - More than 1,400 migrants arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa at the weekend, sparking calls from far-right politicians for action to stem the flow, amid fresh moves by Italian authorities against the rescue boats who operate in the central Mediterranean.
© AFP 2023 / ALBERTO PIZZOLI
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BELGRADE (Sputnik) - The retreating coronavirus pandemic may soon be replaced by another crisis in Europe as the current situation in Afghanistan risks reigniting uncontrollable waves of migration, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday.
"With the retreat of the pandemic, the issue of migration has resurfaced in Europe. We will again have well-known mass migration from the south and the east. If you follow the news from Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of people are already leaving it because of the dramatic change in the situation in the country. They freely enter Turkey, and from there to the Balkans and the southern part of Central Europe", Orban said at a joint press briefing with Vucic.
The migration issue will certainly affect Hungary and the western Balkan states, he stressed.
Orban urged the European Union to expand by including the western Balkans, Serbia included, adding that it would consolidate Central Europe. Otherwise, without the Balkan states the bloc risks stagnation, he warned.
Orban is on an official visit to Serbia with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. Earlier in the day, the diplomat was awarded by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic with the 1st class Order of the Serbian Flag for his contribution to the development of relations between the two nations.