Orban: Without Serbia and Hungary, Europe would have hundreds of thousands more migrants

VIENNA - Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said on Friday Europe would have hundreds of thousands more migrants if it were not for Serbia and Hungary and their efforts to stop illegal migration.

He was speaking after a trilateral summit with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer in Vienna.

At a joint press conference, Orban said Hungary and Serbia were protecting Europe's external borders and that as many as 270,000 of 330,000 migrants stopped on Hungary's borders had been stopped on the Serbian-Hungarian border.

He thanked Vucic for his cooperation and for "what he is doing for Europe."

He noted that, without Serbia and Hungary, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands would have hundreds of thousands more migrants than they did now.

He said the migrant route in Hungary was the busiest due to the war in neighbouring Ukraine.

"We are protecting entire Europe on its external borders. There would be problems if we failed to meet our commitments," he said.