Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War "a German problem" at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday.
The Hungarian leader explained his statement by saying that the huge influx of migrants from Africa and the Middle East who make their way to Europe, do so with Germany as a final destination in mind. Orbán spoke to journalists after meeting with European Parliament president Martin Schulz to discuss the migrant crisis.
Would-be migrants currently in Budapest and other parts of Hungary did not intend to stay in the country, Orbán said. "All of them want to go to Germany," he added. The Hungarian government has repeatedly called on Western EU members to help manage the influx of migrants. Orbán's spokesman, Zoltán Kovács, wrote in an op-ed for Newsweek last week that "frontline states" in the migrant crisis such as Italy and Greece should receive more help after 71 migrants were found dead in a truck on the way to Vienna.
Hungary is also in the process of building a 109-mile fence across its border with non-EU member Serbia in a bid to control the influx of migrants.
Meanwhile, European Parliament President Martin Schulz responded to Orbán's claims, saying that the crisis needs an "urgent EU-wide solidarity solution." European Council President Donald Tusk also urged for a greater commitment from EU countries to take in refugees and asylum seekers, calling for member states to accept 100,000 migrants between them, the BBC reports. Previously the European Council had set a target of 40,000.
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