BUDAPEST, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Saturday called for an immediate action against migration at an international conference.
"We need to act now on migration, on border protection, and European unity, because if European policy does not make immediate decisions, then processes that will be impossible to stop later will start," Orban said at the opening day of the Budapest Summit on Migration, hosted by the Mathias Corvinus Collegium.
"We have to make decisions now, because otherwise our successors and maybe even ourselves will have to face painful consequences in 20, 30, 40 years," Orban added.
He quoted UN data suggesting that the population of Africa would rise by half a billion people in the next 13 years, almost as much as the current population of the EU, while the difference between the quality of life in Africa and Europe would likely increase. This will surely increase migration pressure from Africa, according to him.
Orban said that the EU therefore should start helping Africa now, and not in five years' time -- "Bring aid there and don't let trouble leave from there."
"It must be acknowledged that the current EU leaders with the current structures are unable to resolve the issue of migration. Therefore, a modification of the system is necessary," he said.
"The European Commission must be revoked from its rights concerning migration and border protection, and a new body should be set up, composed of the interior ministers of the Schengen area to answer the question of migration," he added.
The Budapest Summit on Migration continues on Sunday and features a number of prominent international voices on these issues, including former Czech president Vaclav Klaus and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
