Following an intense debate on migration at September meeting of the commission of the European Committee of the Regions dealing with the current migration and refugee crisis, we spoke to our member Anna MAGYAR (EPP/HU). As a leading local politician from Csongrád County, which shares a border with Serbia, she came to Brussels to share her unique experiences to increase understanding in the European Union's institutions and in other local authorities in Europe of the challenges with which her region is trying to cope.
Q: You come from Csongrád County in Hungary, which shares a border with Serbia. Could you describe to us the situation your region has been facing recently?
We have faced an increasing influx of immigrants since the beginning of this year. Lately, the number of refugees crossing the Serbian-Hungarian border each day has risen from as few as 50 in January to as many as 9,380 people, in one single day! That number is double the population of a typical border village in this region. Three of them in my area – Asotthalom, Morahalom and Röszke – have been the most affected by the number of migrants arriving. Normal life as they knew it has gone. We are talking here about one of the poorest areas of Hungary and even in the EU. The local authorities and civil society have been doing their best to manage this influx in the most humanitarian way possible. But solidarity from the EU is urgently needed in order to provide a response that accommodates everyone's needs sustainably.
Q: In what way could Europe help migrants and communities such as yours?
The problem is that most of the refugees after crossing the green borders avoid contact with any authorities. They prefer not to be registered, not to leave any fingerprints or records. Many of them also come without any identity documents. Our societies try to help them, by providing food, blankets or water. There are obviously language barriers too that do not help the situation. Only a few of the refugees speak some English. From our observations we judge that their ultimate goal is to find any form of transport that could help them reach Budapest, and later Austria and Germany. They won't stay but immediately flee towards highways or rail stations. Motorway lanes are then blocked in both directions, as their 170 kilometres long march continues towards Budapest.
Q: So from your perspective, the Dublin III regulations do not really work well in practice? Do you see the quota system proposed by the European Commission as one that could help solve the problems?
The Dublin III rules were quite useful for ordinary situations in the past but not for the number of people seeking shelter in Europe today. We are facing a flow of many migrants that according to the rules should have been registered by the Greek authorities as the first Schengen state through which they arrived to Europe. This unfortunately is not often the case. The quotas will unfortunately not solve such problems. These problems are at the frontiers. Europe needs to reinforce the border authorities so they can better sort the real asylum seekers from unsafe countries and those economic migrants who should be treated differently. We all have solidarity in our hearts, but our citizens also expect us to provide them with a stable economy, and safety and security in the places where they live and work. We also are expected to minimise any possible security threats, threats that have become more and more real since the establishment of ISIS. It is at the frontiers that Europe can regain control of the situation. To protect the EU borders from uncontrolled, unidentified migrants – that is crucial!
Q: What other suggestions for the European institutions or Member States trying to tackle this problem would you have?
Europe should stop the problem at its roots: by addressing the situation in war zones, and also by helping countries such as Turkey that are the principal recipients of the migrant flow. When it comes to politicians, I believe they have to weigh their words carefully, on one hand to reassure their societies and on the other not to create false expectations among the rising number of economic migrants. But there is also an important role that the media could play. From Hungary's border statistics we can tell that after a media campaign targeted to discourage potential economic migrants from Kosovo from joining the migratory wave, the number of migrants did in fact drop substantially, almost tenfold. Perhaps that example could inspire some towards creating a wider campaign.