News / EU

Hungary defense minister quits amid refugee crisis

Monday, 07 September 2015 5:53 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 07 September 2015 5:55 PM ]

Hungary's former defense minister, Csaba Hende

The Hungarian defense minister has stepped down following the massive arrival of refugees in the central European country.

Csaba Hende resigned from his post on Monday after a national security council meeting held to discuss the issue.

Hungary has so far seen the arrival of more than 100,000 people in the country, many escaping the conflict in the Middle East. In a bid to stem the inflow, Budapest recently proposed measures that would pave the way for it to deploy the army to its borders.

Anti-immigrant Prime Minister Viktor Orban offered the post to Istvan Simicsko after accepting Hende’s resignation.

The development comes as Europe is facing an unprecedented influx of refugees, mainly coming from conflict-stricken countries like Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Most of the refugees land in Italy or Greece, and then head for the wealthier countries of northern Europe by transiting through countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, like Macedonia, Serbia, and Hungary.

Nearly 340,000 asylum seekers reached the borders of the European Union during the first seven months of the year, up from 123,500 during the same period in 2014, according to the bloc's border agency Frontex.

In a separate development on Monday, the Hungarian police reportedly used pepper spray on a number of asylum-seekers who sought to break through a cordon at Roszke, on Hungary's border with Serbia.

A refugee holds a placard in Arabic reading "Human Rights" as migrants gather on a field near the collection and registration local point for refugees at the Roszke village near the Hungarian-Serbian border on September 7, 2015. © AFP

Reception centers establishment

Meanwhile, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has urged the European Union to deal with the refugee crisis quickly and decide "within weeks" on the establishment of reception centers for refugees in Italy and Greece.

"It will go faster than we perhaps think right now," Gabriel said in an interview due to be broadcast on ZDF television channel later on Monday.

He further called for the fair distribution of refugees throughout Europe, adding that though his country will carry on taking in a "disproportionately high share,” it is unable to take in the same amount each year.