Budapest Plans Transit
Centers as Hungary Faces Migrant Surge
The city of Budapest
plans to set up transit centers for migrants near its main railway stations to
provide basic facilities after Hungary became one of the main entry points for
those seeking asylum in the European Union.
The
services will include toilets, showers and access to fresh water, the
municipality said in a statement on Wednesday. Volunteer groups will continue to carry out other tasks
such as giving out food and information.
Budapest
“cannot and does not want to provide accommodation to immigrants and their
families,” according to the municipality’s statement. The initiative aims to
ensure the “fastest possible” transit of asylum-seekers to their final
destinations with the “least pressure” on the Hungarian capital, it said.
Hungarian
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has urged the European Union to back hard-line policies against
migrants and ordered the construction of a fence on the
country’s border with Serbia.
More
than 103,000 immigrants have registered so far this year in Hungary, state-run
news service MTI reported on Wednesday, compared with 43,000 in the whole of
2014. After entering the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone in Hungary, most
continue their journey to settle in western Europe.
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