Hungary wants payback for ‘protecting European borders’

Activists cut a fence on the Hungarian-Serbian Border. Hungary constructed a 175-kilometer fence on the country’s southern border with Serbia in 2015 and is seeking reimbursement for what it claims to be European border protection measures. (Reuters)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. Viktor Orban said: ‘We have spent over €1 billion on border protection. We are not only protecting ourselves, but Europe as well. At least half of this sum should be reimbursed.’ (Reuters)

BUDAPEST: Hungary wants at least half of the more than €1 billion ($1.2 billion) it has spent on border protection to be reimbursed from European Union funds, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.
“We have spent over €1 billion on border protection. We are not only protecting ourselves, but Europe as well. At least half of this sum should be reimbursed,” Orban said in a video posted on his Facebook page ahead of a summit of European leaders in Brussels.
He also said Hungary would propose to EU leaders a “red card” procedure to enhance the sovereignty of national parliaments that would give national parliaments the power to stop debates in Europe if they are perceived to be violating the national interest.