The alleged organized transport of detained migrants from Hungary to the Slovak border dominated prime-time political debates in Slovak media over the weekend.
MEP Ľudovít Ódor of PS party claims that during his tenure as PM, he received intelligence suggesting a possible organized transfer of detained migrants from Hungary to the Slovak border. Speaking on a prime-time debate on the national broadcaster Slovenská televízia a rozhlas, he said he chose not to make the matter public at the time due to a lack of evidence. Prime Minister Robert Fico (SMER-SD) calls it a lie - in a video he posted on social media on Saturday. He also added that at their first offical meet, he´ll ask the new electer Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar to explain who this false claim was intended to serve.
According to Fico, Hungary's borders were "as full of holes as Swiss cheese and completely uncontrolled" between the years 2022 and 2023. "I understand that in the heat of the moment before and after elections, politicians will say anything, but I can't accept the endangerment of good relations between Slovakia and Hungary through irresponsible political statements without any factual basis," he said.
According to Ľudovít Ódor, the TISZA party intends to investigate the matter and has testimonies to support it. Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár (Smer-SD) responded by stating that he has no information about the investigation and stated that he views these claims to be „simple conspiracies“.
“I see this as utter conspiracy nonsense,” he declared. According to him, it is nonsensical to link this to the ruling Smer-SD party, which was in the opposition at the time.
The opposition Movement Slovensko has filed a criminal complaint alleging the exploitation of migration in the election campaign. Former Interior Minister Roman Mikulec (Hnutie Slovensko) says that already at the time they suspected that the situation had not arisen spontaneously: “Shortly after he was appointed interior minister, Matúš Šutaj Eštok (Hlas-SD) deployed several hundred police officers to the border, and suddenly the problem of illegal migration was considered solved. That is impossible after a single police operation.”
Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok dismissed the claims as post-election euphoria on the part of TISZA party chairman Péter Magyar.
Shortly after his party TISZA’s victory in the Hungarian parliamentary elections, Péter Magyar accused Viktor Orbán of transporting migrants to the Slovak border to help Fico win the 2023 elections.
Source: STVR, TASR
