Hungary's Orban urges EU migration debate, sees threat to democracy

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged European leaders late on Wednesday to change their immigration policies and involve voters in a debate about the continent's future, saying they would otherwise face a political crisis and a threat to the democratic order.

Orban, who was due to address the European People's Party congress in Madrid on Thursday, told the state television channel m1 that European leaders had no mandate to let hundreds of thousands of migrants enter the European Union with little or no control.

Hungary's own efforts to build a fence along its southern border were meant to turn migrants back from Europe, not divert them along a different path to Germany, he said, adding that he had asked Hungary's Balkan neighbours to help reverse the flow.