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

BUDAPEST - Reuters

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers a speech in Budapest, Hungary, September 7, 2015. Reuters Photo

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Sept.7 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 discussion of quotas for distributing migrants between members of the 28-nation bloc were premature while it was unable to defend its external frontiers. 

"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."