Orban: Hungary 'could' let migrants pass

Over 10,000 refugees entered Hungary in a single day, the highest figure this year, police said Thursday. The numbers from the day before broke the record from September 14, just before Hungary effectively closed down its border with Serbia.

The news came as EU leaders were struggling to find solutions to the refugee wave, which raised tension across the bloc.

The Hungarian government, led by right-winger Viktor Orban, sparked especially strong condemnation with its decision to stop migrants from Serbia and Croatia with border fences.

After meeting representatives of other EU members on Thursday, Orban hinted that his government might change its tactics and let migrants pass through towards the richer European countries.

"If the fence is not desirable, we could also let the refugees pass in the direction of Austria and Germany," he said.

Orban also cited Austrian chancellor Werner Faymann, who had likened Budapest's treatment of refugees to Nazi deportations.

Faymann "clearly said that if we can only stop them with the fence, then we should rather let them through," according to the Hungarian prime minister.

Seeking prosperity

Also on Thursday, Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said that Austria plans to ship back the refugees who were refused stay, according to the Reuters news agency.

"If I remember rightly, we have sent more than 5,000 or 5,500 back from Austria, especially to Bulgaria and Romania among others," Mikl-Leitner told journalists at a meeting with the interior minister of the German state of Bavaria Joachim Herrmann.

Relatively few refugees seek asylum in countries like Slovenia and Croatia, even though they are considered safe, Mikl-Leitner said. According to the minister, this showed that they were no longer seeking safety, but rather wanted to choose the country with the most attractive economic situation.

"If refugees come from Slovenia and Croatia to Austria and apply for asylum in Austria ... then we'll take them back to Croatia and Slovenia," she said, stressing the importance of an "effective return policy" in the Reuters report.

'Zero tolerance'

The interior minister made no mention of its southeastern neighbor Hungary, despite the recent friction between Vienna and Budapest.

Mikl-Leitner and Herrmann also urged a crackdown on people smugglers, saying they should be treated with "zero tolerance." There are 545 people smugglers currently jailed in Austria, according to the Austrian minister, and the country is likely to hold about 2,000 trials of traffickers this year.

dj/msh (AP, dpa, AFP, Reuters)