Hungary's Orban: EU should pay Turkey, other countries to help handle migrants

Hungarian premier says discussion of quotas for distributing migrants between 28-nation bloc members are premature

BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday that the European Union should give financial support to Turkey and other non-member countries to help them deal with the stream of migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe.

Addressing Hungarian diplomats in Budapest, the right-wing leader also said that the discussion of quotas for distributing migrants between members of the 28-nation bloc were premature while it was unable to defend its external frontiers.

Read: Even as refugees die, Hungarian PM tells Muslim refugees 'not to come’

"As long as Europe cannot protect its external borders it makes no sense to discuss the fate of those flowing in," he said, adding that he did not rule out a "fair" discussion of quotas at a later stage. "It would make much more sense if the EU established a fund... from which, in agreement with countries that are important to us, such as Turkey, we could provide support to deal with the problem of refugees in those countries."