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Hungary Defends Handling of Migrants Amid Chaos at Train Station Migrant Chaos Mounts While Divided Europe Stumbles for Response
(about 11 hours later)
BUDAPEST — Desperate migrants poured into the Keleti train station in Budapest on Thursday morning but were prevented from traveling to Germany as Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, said that the migration crisis was a “German problem” and that Europe had a moral duty to tell migrants not to come. LONDON — The struggle among European leaders to develop a coherent response to the spiraling migrant crisis intensified on Thursday as fresh calls for a blocwide plan were met with recriminations about the continent being swamped with Muslims.
The comments by Mr. Orban, and the scenes of chaos at Keleti, which has emerged as a potent symbol of Europe’s struggle to come to terms with the migration crisis, highlighted Europe’s lack of preparedness to cope with an influx of migrants from Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. Even as wrenching photographs of a drowned 3-year-old Syrian boy riveted world attention and galvanized public demands for action, the leaders’ first fumbling efforts seemed only to highlight Europe’s divisions, as they bickered over who should take responsibility for the migrants rather than unifying around a new policy.
In recent days, more than 2,000 migrants waited outside the 19th-century station, stranded after perilous journeys that many had hoped would end in Germany, the favored destination. The chaos was searingly illustrated by a daylong stand-off in Budapest and its outskirts, where hundreds of migrants crammed into trains they thought were bound for Austria and Germany, only to be herded into camps.
The next move for the migrants remaining in Budapest was unclear, however, because Hungary’s railroad operator said that no direct trains were heading to Western Europe from Keleti, the city’s main rail station. The hundreds of thousands of migrants pouring into Europe this summer have posed a third great challenge to the continent in the last decade. Yet, neither of the first two, the still smoldering euro crisis and the war in Ukraine, posed the same degree of divisiveness — between left and right, rich and poor and east and west. And both, for all the anger and debate they sparked, seemed ultimately manageable.
When one intercity train with about 500 migrants was stopped in Bicske, about a half-hour west of Budapest, all Hungarians were told that they could get off, but non-Hungarians remained locked inside the train without drinking water. Riot police officers fended off migrants hanging out of windows and chanting that they wanted to go to Austria and Germany. The migrant crisis seems different. With war, instability and poverty spreading through Africa and the Middle East, a prosperous and peaceful Europe is proving a powerful attraction to potentially millions of people who have wearied of the constant turmoil and day-to-day struggles for survival. There is little sign the flow will soon subside.
“Nobody gets off! Nobody gets off!” the police shouted. Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, where thousands of desperate migrants remain stranded, delivered a series of incendiary comments on Thursday, saying that “Europe’s Christian roots” were being threatened and insisting “the problem is a German problem,” not Europe’s.
Some migrants managed to get off the train and lie on the tracks before being removed. Eventually, the migrants were allowed to leave the train and to remain on the platform, which the police blocked off. “Nobody would like to stay in Hungary,” he told reporters in Brussels. “All of them would like to go to Germany.”
The opening of Keleti station in the morning prompted a mad rush, and fights broke out in some train cars as migrants pushed and clawed their way inside. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, rejected Mr. Orban’s assertions, saying Germany was doing only what “is morally and legally required” of every European Union country in accepting its fair share of the migrants. She urged others to do their part ,with “quotas and rules that are fair and take into account what is possible in each country.”
President François Hollande of France said he had reached agreement with Ms. Merkel on “a permanent and obligatory mechanism” to allocate migrants across the bloc, saying, “I believe that today what exists is no longer enough. We will need to go further.” But there is no consensus. Mr. Orban rejected the idea of mandatory quotas, as did the Polish and Slovak governments, which said they would accept only Christians, and in small numbers.
Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain at first rejected the idea of mandatory quotas, but late Thursday said that “as a father I felt deeply moved” by the boy’s death and that Britain would fulfill its “moral responsibilities.” He gave no details, though there were suggestions it might take more Syrians from camps in the region.
While politicians searched for answers, migrants continue to pile up in Hungary, particularly at the 19th century Keleti railroad station in the capital, Budapest. After a day of turmoil and a night sleeping on platforms and floors, nearly 500 migrants trapped there were finally allowed to board a train.
Fights broke out in some train cars as migrants pushed and clawed their way inside, believing they were on their way, at last, to Austria and Germany.
“Where is this train going?” asked a Syrian man. “This isn’t going to Germany, is it?”“Where is this train going?” asked a Syrian man. “This isn’t going to Germany, is it?”
“No, this is a local, man,” someone answered as he walked past the train. “It’s going to the camps,” he added, referring to reports that the migrants would be sent to detention centers where requests for asylum are processed, a procedure that can take months. “No, this is a local, man,” someone answered as he walked past the train. “It’s going to the camps. ” That was a reference to reports the migrants would be sent to reception centers to register and file asylum requests, a procedure that can take months.
Others began to speak of a trick played by the police. Soon, an underground concourse that had been transformed into a makeshift sanctuary and encampment was once again swelling with migrants, some of whom had apparently been unable to get onto trains. About a half-hour to the west of Budapest, the reports and rumors turned out to have some truth. An intercity train with about 500 migrants on board was stopped in the town of Bicske, the site of an already overwhelmed camp. Buses idled nearby, seemingly waiting to take the migrants to a Hungarian camp.
Officers “left and let people come into the station, but now they’re back,” said Mohammad al-Bekaai, a 23-year-old Syrian who had traveled to Hungary from Jordan. “They’re going to pen these people inside and take them to the camp.” All Hungarians were told they could get off, but non-Hungarians remained locked inside the train without drinking water. Riot police officers fended off migrants hanging out of windows and chanting that they wanted to go to Austria and Germany.
Some of the migrants, appearing tired and defeated, were aware that trains might be headed to detention centers and were resigned to their fate. “Even if they take us to the camp, it’s better than staying in the station,” said Ali al-Taai, a Syrian from Deir al-Zour. “I’ve been there for six days without food and water. I’ve had enough.” The migrants initially refused to get off, believing they were being tricked by the authorities. “No camp, no camp,” people shouted from the train.
Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, where he was meeting with European Union leaders, Mr. Orban defended his government’s handling of the migration crisis and criticized European proposals that would require member states to accept migrants based on quotas. Eventually, the migrants left the train and huddled on the platform, kept there by the police, who blocked the exits.
His words received a cold reception from Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, which represents European Union leaders. Mr. Tusk called for much greater solidarity among European Union leaders and for the “fair distribution of at least 100,000 refugees” among the 28 member states — far more than had been previously suggested. Hungary has emerged as a potent symbol of Europe’s struggle to come to terms with the migration crisis, as well as its lack of preparedness to cope with an influx of migrants from Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere.
But Mr. Orban countered that, without stringent border controls, such a proposal was an “invitation” for migrants to come to Europe. He added that they were using countries like Hungary as a stopping point on the way to Germany, whose prosperity makes it a favored destination. The migrants have no desire to stay in the country, where Mr. Orban’s center-right government has made it abundantly clear they are unwelcome, and would prefer to travel to Germany.
“Nobody would like to stay in Hungary,” he said. “All of them would like to go to Germany.” If the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, insists that “nobody can leave Hungary without registration,” he said, then “we will register them.” Under European Union rules, however, migrants are supposed to file for asylum in the country where they enter, before moving on to their final destination. In practice, the migrants are often given no final destinations and become the responsibility of the country that registered them.
Ms. Merkel gave a pointed rebuke to Mr. Orban during a visit to Switzerland. “Germany is doing what is morally and legally obliged,” she said. “Not more, and not less.” After first encouraging migrants to pass through the country, he changed course on Thursday, following the letter of the law while complaining that the system was broken.
The mass movement of people is “a problem which affects all of us in Europe,” Ms. Merkel said. Moreover, the Geneva Conventions, which require among other things giving shelter to people fleeing war and hardship, are “not just valid in Germany, but in every European Union member state,” she said, according to the German news agency DPA. “We Hungarians are full of fear,” he added. “People in Europe are full of fear, because we see that European leaders, among them the prime ministers, are not capable of controlling the situation.”
Asked whether Hungary’s approach was inhumane because it hampered the ability of people fleeing conflict to move on, and because the country is building a fence along its border with Serbia, Mr. Orban said that the policies were the most rational available under difficult circumstances. Germany has promised to be generous in accepting asylum-seekers, especially from Syria, but made it clear that it cannot accept everyone forever, and that the burden must be shared by other E.U. states.
Creating the impression that migrants should “just come because we are ready to accept everybody — that would be a moral failure because this is not the case,” Mr. Orban said. “So the moral, human thing is to make clear: Please don’t come.” To try to get around the problem, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, whose proposal for mandatory quotas was rejected in June, is considering allowing some countries to provide money instead of taking migrants. The European Commission is preparing proposals for setting up reception and screening centers in Italy and Greece and is making another effort at pushing member states to share the burden.
Back at Keleti station, migrants continued to look for ways to leave the country. But in a fashion typical of the bloc, the process is cumbersome and slow. Only after a preparatory meeting of interior and justice ministers on Sept. 14, will a summit meeting of European leaders be considered.
The Hungarian authorities had been keeping migrants out of the station, saying that they were obeying rules requiring migrants to be registered in the country where they first arrive in the European Union. It was unclear whether the opening of the gates to migrants signaled a change of policy. The numbers, of course, are not the biggest issue — for Mr. Orban and some others, it is the cultural and religious dimension that troubles them.
Hungary, under the center-right government of Mr. Orban, has found itself a recalcitrant protagonist in the escalating migration crisis. His country, he said, was being “overrun” with asylum-seekers, most of whom are Muslim. “That is an important question, because Europe and European culture have Christian roots,” he wrote in the German newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Countries like Germany want European Union members to accept a quota of migrants based on each country’s relative wealth and population. Mr. Orban, however, along with Britain and other countries, has been vociferously opposed to the proposal. He argues that migration to Hungary threatens to undermine quality of life in the country. Unaware of what was going on in Bicske, migrants continued to surge into Keleti after the authorities relaxed their cordon. Officers “left and let people come into the station, but now they’re back,” said Mohammad al-Bekaai, a 23-year-old Syrian. “They’re going to pen these people inside and take them to the camp.”
The degree of alarm in Hungary over immigration has been laid bare by the roughly 110-mile fence that 9,000 soldiers are building on the Serbian border. The fence, which is expected to be completed in the coming weeks, has been likened by some critics to the Iron Curtain. A handful managed to get onto the next few trains headed west, but they were removed at Bicske and joined the few who had left the morning train and moved onto the platform.
On Wednesday, the image of a dead Syrian boy who washed up on a beach in Turkey spread across the Internet, and advocates for migrants are hoping that the boy’s death will bring about a change in public opinion that will force European leaders to act. Some, realizing the authorities were determined to send them to reception centers, were resigned. “Even if they take us to the camp, it’s better than staying in the station,” said Ali al-Taai, a Syrian from Deir al-Zour. “I’ve been there for six days without food and water. I’ve had enough.”
Mr. Tusk was also critical of comments Mr. Orban made to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in which he suggested that the influx of migrants threatened to undermine the Continent’s Christian roots. “Not everyone is a fan of the controversial solutions proposed by Prime Minister Orban,” Mr. Tusk said at a joint news conference with the Hungarian leader on Thursday morning, “and I can understand why.”
“I want to underline that, for me, Christianity in public and social life carries a duty to our brothers in need,” said Mr. Tusk, a former prime minister of Poland. “For a Christian, it shouldn’t matter what race, religion and nationality the person in need represents.”