For vacation camps?

Hungary denies refugee camp near border

Hungary's government has denied that a refugee camp is being built near Austria's border. The facility near the village of Vitnyéd will be used as a vacation camp for young people in future, said Hungarian Chancellery Minister Gergely Gulyás on Thursday evening.

The suspected refugee camp had previously led to unrest and protests, including in Austrian politics. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) had threatened to tighten border controls if asylum seekers were actually settled on the former vocational school site. Burgenland's governor Hans-Peter Doskozil (SPÖ) immediately announced that border crossings would be closed.

Until recently, refugee families from Ukraine had been living on the site in question. After they moved out, the area was fenced off and since then construction, renovation and furnishing work has been carried out. On Sunday, hundreds of people living in the village demonstrated and demanded clear information. Vitnyéd is located just a few kilometers from the Austrian border in the Seewinkel region of Burgenland.

Minister: camp would be in Brussels
The Hungarian government had already denied plans to build a refugee camp near Austria in mid-September. "If Brussels forces us to take in migrants, then the refugee camp should not be built near the Austrian border, but on the Grand-Place, the main square in Brussels," said Minister Gulyás.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) sentenced Hungary's government to pay a fine of 200 million euros in the summer because migrants did not have effective access to asylum procedures. The government has not yet paid and is instead demanding money from the EU for migration policy. Prime Minister Orban has threatened to have asylum seekers transported to Brussels by bus.