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Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing government considers migration to be one of the largest threats to the status quo in the EU.

But officials in Brussels and some other EU centres are distressed by some of his go-it-alone policies.

A European Parliament committee, for example, was due on Monday to discuss the state of fundamental rights in Hungary.

Mr Orban was also a rare EU leader to endorse US President Donald Trump, who is seeking to built a wall along the US-Mexico border.

The European Commission should not stand by while Hungary makes a mockery of the right to seek asylum.

Benjamin Ward

A barbed-wire fence is already in place, erected in 2015, when Hungary was part of the main overland route for hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees, many fleeing the war in Syria.

It effectively blocked the route to Germany, where many were heading, but Hungary has said a second fence would make the barrier more effective and hold back migrants while processing their asylum requests.

Although the pressure on the border is far from the peak of the 2015 crisis, border patrols still prevent hundreds of illegal border crossings per day and escort back dozens of migrants who manage to break through, the government says.

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Poles for the second fence are already standing near the border station Kelebia, and construction materials have also been shipped to the border elsewhere.

Mr Orban's chief of staff, Janos Lazar, last week said the government had earmarked 110million for the fence and containment camps to hold migrants.

He said the second border fence, which will extend only to the Hungary-Serbia border for now, would be built as soon as the weather permitted and would be standing by the end of spring.

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A Migrant is helped to wash tear gas from his eyes after clashes with Hungarian police at the Horgos border

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Rights groups Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Human Rights Watch on Friday sent a complaint to EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos about current practices and proposed legal changes.

Human Rights Watch deputy director Benjamin Ward said: The European Commission should not stand by while Hungary makes a mockery of the right to seek asylum.

"Using transit zones as detention centres and forcing asylum seekers who are already inside Hungary back to the Serbian side of the razor-wire fence is abusive, pointless, and cruel."

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The Hungarian government's practice of allowing only 10 people in per day also creates a dangerous bottleneck along the Hungary-Serbia border in sometimes inhumane conditions, the rights groups added.

The government rejected that in an emailed reply to Reuters.

A statement said: Human Rights Watch... again tries to denigrate those serving at the border.

"Hungary was among the first to honour the EU's rules, protects the Schengen borders, stops, registers and separates refugees from economic migrants."

Originally posted here:
MIGRANT CRISIS: Hungary risks EU's wrath as it starts building ANOTHER border fence - Express.co.uk

Stephen Rea: NI actor says people should get angry about migrant crisis BBC News Leading Northern Ireland actor Stephen Rea has said people should "get angry" about the migrant crisis in Europe. He was speaking during a visit to the city earlier in the week to launch the File festival programme. Bafta-winning actor Rea, is also an ...

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Stephen Rea: NI actor says people should get angry about migrant crisis - BBC News

European Western Balkans (press release)

EU satisfied with Serbia's handling of migrant crisis European Western Balkans (press release) TANJUG_mali BELGRADE - At Thursday's press conference following a handover of 82 vehicles donated to the Serbian Interior Ministry, Christian Danielsson, the European Commission's Director General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement ... EU "impressed with Serbia's handling of migrant crisis" - Politics - on ...B92 all 11 news articles »

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EU satisfied with Serbia's handling of migrant crisis - European Western Balkans (press release)

Migrant crisis is not the issue of Serbia, it is a European challenge that requires a joint solution, said the Director General of the European Commissions DG NEAR Christian Danielsson following a visit to the migrant reception centre in Obrenovac, the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia reports.

Danielsson told the press that the reception centre in Obrenovac, just as any other similar facility in Serbia, was an example of close cooperation between Serbia and the EU.

He said that the EU would continue to financially help Serbia manage those centres, noting that since spring 2015 the EU has provided Serbia EUR50 million to cover food and other costs, Delegation reports.

Danielsson said that the EU also donated vehicles for Serbian border police and the Commissariat for Refugees.

Danielsson also visited the thermal power plant Nikola Tesla in Obrenovac together with Serbian Minister of Energy Aleksandar Anti.

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Danielsson: Migrant crisis is not issue of Serbia, European challenge - European Western Balkans (press release)

By Dimitra DeFotis

A documentary short made about the migrant and refugee crisis in Greece received an Academy Awardnomination.

The 2017 Oscars will be doled out Sunday night. The film, 4.1 Miles, captures drama on one day in October 2015as the Greek coast guard rescues refugees and migrants in the choppy waters between Turkey and the Greek island of Lesbos, which is 4.1 miles away. It was directed by Daphne Matziaraki, herself an immigrant from Greece who completed the doc as her thesis at the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. It was published by The New York Times Op-Doc video portal.

In the film, a Lesbos island coast guard leader says of the refugees:

I cant reassure them. Its impossible. When I look into their eyes, I see their memories of war. and we see these families losing each other in the Greek sea. In the sea of a peaceful country. Because of the way they have to cross

Financially troubledGreece has balked at housing and feeding let alone employing the flood of people moving into Europe. As for the Greek economy, little progress was made this week on its bailout review with Eurozone creditors. The Global X MSCI Greece exchange-traded fund (GREK) was fractionally higher on the week. See our post, Greece: ETF Rises, But Is Austerity Over?Also see our Penta Daily post, Refugee Crisis: How to Help.

Deadline Hollywood interviewed the directoron refugees, Greece and more.

For investors, see our free post onGreece, Turkey, Refugees, Crisis & NATO from James Stavridis, a retired U.S. Navy admiral and dean of the Fletcher School of law and diplomacy at Tufts University. Also see ourposts on the Greek economy, and on Turkey for investors.

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Greek Migrant Crisis Film Nominated For Oscar - Emerging Markets ... - Barron's (blog)