The article cited Austrian officials as saying that Orbán had played down the extent of the presence of migrants in Hungary. Lázár told a government press conference that it was inconceivable that Orbán would have provided false information to allies as important as the Austrian and German chancellors.

The prime minister had been in regular contact at the time with both Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann and German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the migrant situation, Lázár said. Most of the migrants who entered Hungary and camped out at Budapest’s Keleti railway station went there after Merkel’s announcement that Germany would welcome refugees, he said.

The big mistake had been Merkel’s announcement, Lázár insisted. He said that the positions of Orbán and Merkel must be aligned or else their European People’s Party could lose many voters and parties of the extreme right would make gains.

Asked about the three suspected terrorists recently arrested in Germany, the government office chief said it supported Hungary’s position that everyone should be checked and registered when crossing the European border.

He said he was convinced that “hundreds or thousands” of migrants posing a security risk had “crossed the Schengen border and travelled through Hungary following Angela Merkel’s call”.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.