Earlier this month, Hungary announced that it would build a temporary border fence, subbed the new 'Berlin Wall', to stem the flow of migrants coming from neighboring Serbia. Natasha Bertaud, spokeswoman for the EU immigration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said:
"We have only recently taken down walls in Europe; we should not be putting them up."
The border fence, if erected, would be four meters high and run 175 kilometers along the length of the shared border between Hungary and Serbia.
According to the Twitter account of EU immigration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, he will use the trip to Hungary as an opportunity to discuss the European Union migration with the Hungarian government.
Will also travel to #Hungary on Tuesday to discuss #migrationEU with the government #euco
— DimitrisAvramopoulos (@Avramopoulos) June 26, 2015
The European Commission want to agree and finalize a migration package in July — in response to the Mediterranean migrant crisis.
On Sunday, 2,900 migrants on 21 boats — including inflatable rubber dinghies — had to be rescued by naval and humanitarian vessels launched by the Italian coast guard. All of the boats had set sail from Libya, according to the authorities.
#MigrationEU can be a catalyst to enhance the European spirit, not break it, with solidarity to all Member States in need #euco
— DimitrisAvramopoulos (@Avramopoulos) June 26, 2015
The co-ordinated rescue operation was carried out by Italy, Spain, Ireland and Britain. Meanwhile, the response to the migrants once they are rescued remains far from cohesive.
Italy wants northern European countries to sign up to a quota system proposed by Brussels in which European countries take in a fixed number of migrants. Some countries, including France are causing controversy by stepping up their border controls and closing them to any more asylum seekers.
The proposal by Hungary to build a wall on its border with Serbia has been denounced by Serbia's Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, who is calling on the European Union to say whether it will tolerate a new division on its territory.
Hungary's center-right government has said it will go ahead with the plans to build the temporary fence as fast as possible.
According to Serbia's Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, "We are absolutely and fiercely against their (Hungary's) decision to build a fence.
"This is no longer an issue that concerns only Serbia and Hungary, or Greece. This is an issue that Europe must resolve."
Germany has backed the plans for the 28 member states to share the burden of asylum seekers to relieve Italy and Malta and Greece. Britain's Home Office has said it will refuse to accept any refugees under the program. Spain, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, France — and Hungary, have rejected the resettlement proposals.
The European Commission, with the help of Dimitris Avramopoulos, hope to agree on a migration system in July.
