Most of these people would most certainly be eligible for asylum or some form of protection under “fair procedures ensuring appropriate guarantees,” she said.

No European Union country considers Greece, Macedonia or Serbia a safe country and the Hungarian government’s readiness to do so is “unheard of” in asylum policy circles.

The Helsinki Committee will seek legal remedy in the EU over the new Hungarian regulations concerning migrants, she said. In response to the argument that illegal entrants were criminals, Pardavi said crossing a border illegally was not a crime but a misdemeanour, provided the entrant is not armed.

She noted that Hungary had received 8 million euros of support in connection with tasks related to asylum-seekers from the EU last year.

In response the parliamentary group of ruling Fidesz said Hungary would continue to receive political refugees from war-stricken countries and insisted that the majority of illegal immigrants were economic migrants who abuse the EU’s asylum and human rights laws.

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