Budapest, June 17 (IANS) Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday that a 175-km-long fence has been planned along the country’s border with Serbia to keep out migrants, a media report said.
“Immigration is one of the most serious problems facing the European Union today… We are talking about a stretch of border 175 km long, whose physical closure can happen with a four-metre high fence. The interior minister received an instruction to prepare that,” BBC quoted Szijjarto as saying in a press conference.
There has been a sharp rise in the number of migrants and asylum seekers entering the central European country.
According to the government, about 54,000 migrants have entered the country in 2015, compared to 43,000 people in 2014.
A recent poster campaign with messages such as “If you come to Hungary, don’t take the jobs of Hungarians!” has caused controversy, prompting the UN to launch its own billboards highlighting refugees who have successfully integrated into the Hungarian society.