Fears over migration and coronavirus

A pro-government columnist finds the Greek reaction to thousands of asylum-seekers trying to cross its borders brutal but understandable. A left-wing pundit suspects that the Hungarian government cannot protect the country either from illegal migration or from the coronavirus.

Magyar Nemzet’s Zsolt Bayer describes Greece’s reaction to those trying to enter from Turkey as unsettling, but understandable. The pro-government commentator thinks that Greece is justified in defending its frontiers from migrants trying to cross over from Turkey in an illegal way. Bayer, however, is more surprised that Greece gets little criticism form the EU and ‘Soros organizations’ which were quick to scorn Hungary when it used force to stop such people.

In Népszava, Róbert Friss thinks that the Hungarian border fence may not resist another wave of refugees. Likewise, the government may fear that if a coronavirus epidemic breaks out, Hungarians will realize that the health care system is in a very poor state, the left-wing columnist contends. Friss speculates that by linking migration to coronavirus threats (see BudaPost March 3) and suggesting that migrants may contaminate Hungary with the coronavirus, the government wants to pre-empt criticism for both poor health care and inefficient border control.

Tags: coronavirus, Greece, migration, Turkey