Last week, Hungary completed construction of a 108-mile fence on the country’s southern border with Serbia, aimed at preventing migrants from illegally crossing the country's border; a move that has drawn criticism from other members of the European Union.
"To control the border is the responsibility and compulsory job of the member states who are outside border of Schengen zone, so Hungary is that kind of country… Don't criticize Hungary for doing what is the compulsory to be done, and instead of criticizing us just let us Hungary do the job as it is written in the European regulations," Orban said at a joint press conference with European Parliament President Martin Schulz.
The Hungarian prime minister argued that Hungary's approach to solving the migration crisis, specifically, by employing a fence as a measure to control its border, should become European policy.
Hungary is struggling with an unprecedented influx of undocumented immigrants from conflict-torn Middle East countries. Many of the migrants are trying to get from Hungary to more prosperous Western European countries, ignoring the bloc's rules under which they must lodge their asylum application in the first EU member state they enter.
Budapest estimates that over 156,000 migrants have illegally entered the country since the beginning of 2015.
