In comments made before a speech to the European parliament last week, Viktor Orbán offered a predictably dismissive assessment of existing Brussels policy on irregular migration and asylum. “If we cannot agree that those who want to enter the EU must stop at the European border and apply outside our borders, we will never be able to stop migration,” suggested Hungary’s prime minister. “The only migrant who does not stay is the one who does not enter the EU.”
Draconian takes such as this, at odds with international law, used to make Mr Orbán a Trumpian outlier in European politics. Only last month, Brussels took steps to recover €200m in EU funds from Hungary, having fined Budapest for ignoring its asylum laws. But times are rapidly changing. A newly agreed migration pact, eight years in the making and establishing a fairer quota system for member states, already looks out of date.
