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World / Europe

Hungary stems migrant flow, but issue remains big in EU vote

Published: 10 May 2019 - 10:27 am | Last Updated: 18 Nov 2021 - 03:34 am
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (C) and Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel speak during an Informal Summit of Heads of State or Government of the EU countries in Sibiu, central Romania on May 9, 2019. AFP / POOL / OLIVIER HOSLET

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (C) and Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel speak during an Informal Summit of Heads of State or Government of the EU countries in Sibiu, central Romania on May 9, 2019. AFP / POOL / OLIVIER HOSLET

By PABLO GORONDI | AP

ASOTTHALOM, Hungary: Hundreds of migrants a day streamed through the southern Hungarian village of Asotthalom on their way to Western Europe in 2015. Today there are almost none. That doesn't mean the issue has gone away.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his right-wing Fidesz party have campaigned almost exclusively on anti-immigration policies and it remains a hot topic in this village too.
Mayor Laszlo Torczkai, who is critical of government corruption and some of Orban's economic policies, still appreciates the border fence that Orban built to stop migrants from entering the country. Torczkai says: "On this we agree - migration must be stopped."
Fidesz could win as many as 14 of Hungary's 21 seats in the European Parliament. No other party in Hungary is expected to get more than three.