Hungary Opens Military Base Against Migrants Near Serbian Border

On Monday, Hungary opened officially its military base in Hercegszántó, not far from the border with Serbia. The aim of the base is to stop illegal migration, announced Hungary's Defence Minister István Simicskó.

"The soldiers are working in order to avert the possibility of hundreds of thousands of people marching through the territory of the country as they did in 2015," said Simicskó. Hercegszántó is about 220 km south of the capital Budapest. There will be at least 150 soldiers there at any given point in time.

Last week, PM Viktor Orban stated that the erection of a second fence along the Hungarian - Serbian border will halt the influx of new migrants and called on "people in Austria and Germany to sleep calmly because Hungarians are defending Europe's external borders."

At the end of 2015, Hungary constructed a fence along the border with Croatia as well. In the summer and autumn of 2015, over 450,000 migrants passed through the territory of Hungary along the so-called Balkan route.

Hungary will not change its policy on migration. We will not give in to any pressure and we will defend the state borders, warned the adviser on national security in the government of Viktor Orban.