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| Migration crisis: Hungary PM claims Europe is in grip of 'madness' | Migration crisis: Hungary PM claims Europe is in grip of 'madness' |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has claimed that Europe is in the grip of madness over immigration and refugees, and argued that he was defending European Christianity against a Muslim influx. | Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has claimed that Europe is in the grip of madness over immigration and refugees, and argued that he was defending European Christianity against a Muslim influx. |
| Orbán’s incendiary remarks came as he arrived in Brussels for a confrontation with EU leaders over his hardline policies in Europe’s biggest migration emergency since the second world war. | Orbán’s incendiary remarks came as he arrived in Brussels for a confrontation with EU leaders over his hardline policies in Europe’s biggest migration emergency since the second world war. |
| “Everything which is now taking place before our eyes threatens to have explosive consequences for the whole of Europe,” Orbán wrote in Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “Europe’s response is madness. We must acknowledge that the European Union’s misguided immigration policy is responsible for this situation. | “Everything which is now taking place before our eyes threatens to have explosive consequences for the whole of Europe,” Orbán wrote in Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “Europe’s response is madness. We must acknowledge that the European Union’s misguided immigration policy is responsible for this situation. |
| “Irresponsibility is the mark of every European politician who holds out the promise of a better life to immigrants and encourages them to leave everything behind and risk their lives in setting out for Europe. If Europe does not return to the path of common sense, it will find itself laid low in a battle for its fate.” | “Irresponsibility is the mark of every European politician who holds out the promise of a better life to immigrants and encourages them to leave everything behind and risk their lives in setting out for Europe. If Europe does not return to the path of common sense, it will find itself laid low in a battle for its fate.” |
| Germany, France, and Italy are demanding an overhaul of European asylum procedures as attempts to get to grips with the crisis leave Europe floundering in incoherence while the Schengen passport-free travel zone across 26 countries threatens to unravel. | Germany, France, and Italy are demanding an overhaul of European asylum procedures as attempts to get to grips with the crisis leave Europe floundering in incoherence while the Schengen passport-free travel zone across 26 countries threatens to unravel. |
| Related: Budapest station reopens but no trains running to western Europe | Related: Budapest station reopens but no trains running to western Europe |
| “Today everything is immigration,” said the EU president, Donald Tusk, on Thursday. “We live in sobering, shocking times.” | “Today everything is immigration,” said the EU president, Donald Tusk, on Thursday. “We live in sobering, shocking times.” |
| “The Schengen treaty is under threat, that’s absolutely clear,” said Martin Schulz, the European parliament speaker, after meeting Orban. “This is a crucial moment for the European Union. A deeper split of the union is a risk we cannot exclude.” | “The Schengen treaty is under threat, that’s absolutely clear,” said Martin Schulz, the European parliament speaker, after meeting Orban. “This is a crucial moment for the European Union. A deeper split of the union is a risk we cannot exclude.” |
| Amid deep confusion over border controls and free movement, there were scenes of chaos at Budapest’s Keleti railway station when the Hungarian authorities’ on-off approach to running the trains shifted. Thousands of displaced people scrambled to board trains hoping they were heading for Germany when the Hungarians restarted rail traffic a day after closing the station to refugees. | Amid deep confusion over border controls and free movement, there were scenes of chaos at Budapest’s Keleti railway station when the Hungarian authorities’ on-off approach to running the trains shifted. Thousands of displaced people scrambled to board trains hoping they were heading for Germany when the Hungarians restarted rail traffic a day after closing the station to refugees. |
| “This is not a European problem, it’s a German problem,” said Orbán in Brussels. “They all want to go to Germany.” | “This is not a European problem, it’s a German problem,” said Orbán in Brussels. “They all want to go to Germany.” |
| Tusk said Europe was split east/west over the refugee influx, with some, such as Orbán seeking to contain the crisis by erecting border fences, while others, led by Germany, wanted obligatoryquotas for refugees across the union. | Tusk said Europe was split east/west over the refugee influx, with some, such as Orbán seeking to contain the crisis by erecting border fences, while others, led by Germany, wanted obligatoryquotas for refugees across the union. |
| Securing the borders was the most urgent challenge, Tusk said, adding he expected half a million “irregular migrants” to arrive in Europe this year. That seemed an understatement since Germany projects arrivals of 800,000 there alone. | Securing the borders was the most urgent challenge, Tusk said, adding he expected half a million “irregular migrants” to arrive in Europe this year. That seemed an understatement since Germany projects arrivals of 800,000 there alone. |
| Shifting his previous opposition to binding quotas sharing refugees across the EU, Tusk said the union should relocate 100,000 people. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, is to table more ambitious proposals next week and is expected to raise the quotas figure to 160,000 from the 40,000 proposed in May and fought over since. Natasha Bertaud, the commission spokeswoman on migration, indicated that the relocation would relieve the high numbers of people arriving in Italy, Greece, and Hungary | |
| The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, tweeted the photo of a Syrian boy whose dead body washed up on a beach in Turkey, writing: “He had a name: Aylan Kurdi. Urgent to act. Urgent to have a European mobilisation.” | The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, tweeted the photo of a Syrian boy whose dead body washed up on a beach in Turkey, writing: “He had a name: Aylan Kurdi. Urgent to act. Urgent to have a European mobilisation.” |
| Il avait un nom : Aylan Kurdi Urgence d'agir Urgence d'une mobilisation européenne pic.twitter.com/d2wkTGAdhX | Il avait un nom : Aylan Kurdi Urgence d'agir Urgence d'une mobilisation européenne pic.twitter.com/d2wkTGAdhX |
| Orbán said the razor-wire fence erected on Hungary’s southern border with Serbia was essential to defending the Schengen zone’s external borders. He denied that the emergency was a refugee crisis, but one of mass migration. | Orbán said the razor-wire fence erected on Hungary’s southern border with Serbia was essential to defending the Schengen zone’s external borders. He denied that the emergency was a refugee crisis, but one of mass migration. |
| “Those arriving have been raised in another religion, and represent a radically different culture. Most of them are not Christians, but Muslims,” he said. “This is an important question, because Europe and European identity is rooted in Christianity. Is it not worrying in itself that European Christianity is now barely able to keep Europe Christian? There is no alternative, and we have no option but to defend our borders.” | “Those arriving have been raised in another religion, and represent a radically different culture. Most of them are not Christians, but Muslims,” he said. “This is an important question, because Europe and European identity is rooted in Christianity. Is it not worrying in itself that European Christianity is now barely able to keep Europe Christian? There is no alternative, and we have no option but to defend our borders.” |
| EU foreign ministers are to meet in Luxembourg on Friday, divided over their responses and seeking what Tusk called “a common and ambitious denominator”. | EU foreign ministers are to meet in Luxembourg on Friday, divided over their responses and seeking what Tusk called “a common and ambitious denominator”. |
| The German, French, and Italian foreign ministers wrote to the chair of the meeting, Federica Mogherini of Italy, the EU’s foreign policy coordinator, demanding more concerted EU policies. | The German, French, and Italian foreign ministers wrote to the chair of the meeting, Federica Mogherini of Italy, the EU’s foreign policy coordinator, demanding more concerted EU policies. |
| “The current refugee crisis is putting the European Union and all of its member states to a historic test,” they wrote, urging a more equitable distribution of bona fide refugees across the union as well as swifter deportations of those whose asylum claims are rejected. | “The current refugee crisis is putting the European Union and all of its member states to a historic test,” they wrote, urging a more equitable distribution of bona fide refugees across the union as well as swifter deportations of those whose asylum claims are rejected. |
| Related: Britain should not take more Middle East refugees, says David Cameron | Related: Britain should not take more Middle East refugees, says David Cameron |
| There was nothing new in the demands for a new system of mandatory quotas spreading refugees across the EU. The three countries have been urging the same since May but a summit of EU leaders in June broke up in acrimony at 3.30 in the morning without agreement. | There was nothing new in the demands for a new system of mandatory quotas spreading refugees across the EU. The three countries have been urging the same since May but a summit of EU leaders in June broke up in acrimony at 3.30 in the morning without agreement. |
| Tusk said that since then “we have moved slightly closer to a common position”, suggesting hopes for a major policy breakthrough may be dashed when EU interior and justice ministers meet in emergency session on 14 September. | Tusk said that since then “we have moved slightly closer to a common position”, suggesting hopes for a major policy breakthrough may be dashed when EU interior and justice ministers meet in emergency session on 14 September. |
| Orbán said quotas were not the answer. | Orbán said quotas were not the answer. |
| “Quotas is an invitation for those who want to come. The moral human thing is to make clear, please don’t come.” | “Quotas is an invitation for those who want to come. The moral human thing is to make clear, please don’t come.” |