(6 Sep 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Budapest, Hungary – 6 September 2024
1. Wide of Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior Bence Rétvári, and Deputy Police Chief Major General János Kuczik at press conference
2. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian): Bence Rétvári, State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior
"If the European Union, Brussels, wants to force Hungary to let in the illegal migrants, those we have stopped so far a million times at Hungary’s southern border, then Hungary, after the implementation of the European procedure, will offer these illegal migrants a voluntary, free of charge, one-way ticket to Brussels. If Brussels wants illegal migrants, Brussels can get them.”
2. Various shots of intercity buses on display
3. Focus pull from bus drivers to bus sign "Röszke to Brussels" (NOTE: Röszke is the main entry point of the Hungarian-Serbian border)
4. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian): Bence Rétvári, State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior
"According to the position of Brussels, if illegal migrants can move freely on the territory of Hungary, then they can also move freely on the territory of the European Union. So there is no obstacle stopping them from taking these buses and travelling to Brussels from Budapest. More precisely from Röszke, which is on the Hungarian (southern) border and to arrive in front of the European Commission headquarters. If Brussels wants this, of course, transport of illegal migrants to Brussels is also doable. For us, protecting our southern border is the priority.”
5. Pan of intercity buses on display
6. Tilt up to bus sign Röszke to Brussels
7. Wide of press conference
8. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian): Bence Rétvári, State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior
"This type of activity is not recognized by the European Union but we are attacked for it. The EU does not compensate Hungary financially but wants to force Hungary to abandon its border protection by giving us a hefty fine for something which is nothing more than compliance with laws of the European Union and Hungary.”
9. Various shots of intercity buses on display
STORYLINE:
Hungary’s anti-immigrant government is signaling it is serious about a plan to provide free one-way travel to Brussels for asylum seekers, a measure meant to pressure the European Union into relenting on heavy fines against the country for its restrictive asylum policies.
At a news conference in the capital Budapest on Friday, State Secretary Bence Rétvári claimed the EU wanted to force Hungary to allow "illegal migrants” across its borders, and said the country would “offer these illegal migrants, voluntarily, free of charge, one-way travel to Brussels."
Backdropped by a row of passenger buses with signs reading "Röszke-Brussels” — a route that would take migrants from Hungary’s southern border with Serbia to the EU headquarters in Belgium — Rétvári said the transport would be conducted "after the implementation of the European procedure," but did not detail what status the asylum seekers would have upon being transported.
"If Brussels wants illegal migrants, Brussels can get them,” he said.
The provocative proposal to bus migrants to Brussels, which echoes similar moves taken earlier by right-wing Republican governors in the United States, comes as a response to a June ruling by the European Court of Justice that ordered Hungary to pay a fine of 200 million euros ($216 million) for persistently breaking the bloc’s asylum rules, and an additional one million euros per day until it brings its policies into line with EU law.
AP video by Bela Szandelszky
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