Hungary and the Czech Republic today criticized the European Commission’s 200 million aid to Spain in the context of the massive entry of migrants into Ceuta in July, because they felt that the Spanish government did not do its “work”.
© Lusa
10/09/2026
by
Lusa
O hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar and his Czech counterpart Andrej Babis stated this during a joint press conference in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, following a meeting of the Visegrad Group countries, which also include Slovak Robert Fico and Polish Donald Tusk.
“ It is not fair that Hungary pays EUR 1 million a day to defend Europe’s common borders, the Hungarian border, while another Prime Minister receives EUR 200 million from the European Commission for perhaps not having fulfilled its task,” Magyar said.
“This is very bad. It's not good news. At all”, insisted the Hungarian leader referring to the million-dollar sentence imposed by the EU Court of Justice (TJEU) against Hungary, then led by Viktor Orbán, for his refusal to comply with Community asylum rules.
Magyar wanted to stress that what the four Visegrad countries have advocated in the area of migration has now become “the majority position” within the European Union.
“ It is not ten, but between 19 and 20 Member States that say the same, that we must take a step forward and support the protection of borders”, he said.
For his part, Babis argued that the four countries represent the “safest area in Europe”, claiming that it is they who “decide” who resides in their territory.
“Here, in the Visegrad Group, each Member State decides who will live here and who will work here,” he said.
The Czech leader recalled that ten years ago they had already offered the rest of the EU what they had to do to “solve the problem of illegal immigration”.
“ In 2016 we told the other Member States what they should do, but they did not listen to us. They only realized ten years later, but for some it is already too late”, he said, before criticizing them for “continue not listening”.
The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it will unlock EUR 114,7 million in emergency funds to help manage the situation in Ceuta, where several thousand migrants remain irregularly from Morocco on 30 and 31 July, in particular to strengthen the border and speed up returns; in addition to ensuring Frontex's readiness to strengthen its operational support.