Gianni Pittella, President of the S&D Group in the European Parliament, has strongly criticised the adoption by the Hungarian Parliament of a motion for resolution which blames the EU for deaths of refugees and the extension of powers to the army to use non-lethal force against refugees on the Hungarian-Serbian border.
Mr Pittella said:
"Mr Orban and his party went too far today by adopting an outrageous motion for resolution which blames the EU for the deaths of refugees. If there is someone to be blamed and to be ashamed of, it is Mr Orban. He blocked the creation of a common EU asylum policy for the last two years. He, instead of looking for a responsible solution, started building fences and militarising borders. The refugee crisis is a humanitarian, not a military, issue. The days of soldiers patrolling frontiers between European countries should be left firmly in our past. We must fight back. The idea our continent is being overwhelmed is simply not true. We urge National Ministers to agree today to the measures tabled by the Commission before more walls go up, more chaos ensues and before Orban's xenophobic rhetoric can take root across Europe."
