The Hungarian ambassador in Vienna has denied that he was summoned by Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg. It was only a “consultation” in which Austria complained that the decision to release hundreds of convicted smugglers of foreign nationality had not been communicated to Vienna in advance.
In a radio interview on Wednesday, Ambassador Andor Nagy stressed that it is his country’s “sovereign right” to deport captured foreign smugglers. As the top diplomat further emphasized, it never occurred to Hungary that releasing traffickers would put anyone in trouble because they “do no harm to anyone”. The ambassador reiterated the Hungarian government’s argument that 12 to 13 percent of prisoners in Hungarian prisons are human traffickers and that their imprisonment would be expensive for Hungarian taxpayers.
Majority released smugglers from Serbia, Romania and Ukraine
According to a request from the Hungarian online portal 24.hu to the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the latter stressed that the Hungarian decision had a direct impact on Austria’s security. According to a decree from Viktor Orbán’s right-wing Hungarian government, captured foreign smugglers will be released if they leave Hungary within 72 hours. Only people with prison sentences of five years or less are affected, most of whom are from Serbia, Romania and Ukraine.
The Hungarian ambassador suspects that the outrage in Austria is also due to the incumbent government’s attempts to show “successes in migration policy” because elections are imminent. The next elections to the National Council are unlikely to take place until autumn next year.
Source: Krone
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