Thursday, 17 September 2015 - 15:30
Dutch Foreign Min angered by Hungary refugee clashes, border closure
Bert Koenders, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, is disappointed in the way that Hungary has chosen to deal with the refugees trying to enter the country. "That is not the method to jointly solve this problem in Europe", he said to broadcaster NOS.
Hungary has closed the border with Serbia and is currently building a fence to keep refugees out. Those who still try to enter the country are stopped with tear gas and water canons. On Wednesday this resulted in injuries and riots.
Koenders calls the images he saw of the events horrible. He believes that this will only lead to refugees trying to reach Western-Europe through other countries.
Next week the European ministers are meeting again to discuss the refugee crisis. Koenders hopes that they will reach an agreement on a joint approach to deal with the crisis, including a fair redistribution of asylum seekers who have already registered in Europe.