Starmer told post-Brexit migrant return deal with EU is ‘not going to happen’
Hungary has poured cold water on Britain’s hopes of a UK-EU migrant return deal, a central part of Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to stop the small boats crossing the Channel.
Leading politicians in the governing Fidesz party told the Telegraph that Budapest would “never be engaged” in the “unfeasible” agreement, which needs the support of all 27 EU member states.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s allies said they would not change their minds, even if the UK offered to pay towards the upkeep of Hungary’s southern border fence with Serbia.
“It’s not going to happen because it is unfeasible. We never will be engaged, I think, in this kind of scheme,” said Zoltan Kovacs, Mr Orban’s international spokesman and a minister.
“My first reaction would be that you don’t even take it as a negotiation into the negotiation booth ... we can talk about everything, but it’s not going to work.”
Mr Orban had praised the Prime Minister for his efforts in fighting people-smuggling after Sir Keir chaired a break-out meeting on illegal migration at Thursday’s European Political Community summit in Budapest.
Hungary’s scepticism about a UK-EU deal will be a blow to the Prime Minister, who cannot legally return small boat migrants to France without the agreement because the UK left the bloc’s Dublin Regulation at Brexit.
Dublin allows EU members to return asylum seekers to the first safe member state they arrive in, which could be Hungary if they crossed into the bloc from Serbia on the Western Balkans route.
Sir Keir announced intelligence-sharing agreements with Serbia, Kosovo and North Montenegro at the summit of about 50 EU and non-EU leaders.
The Western Balkans countries are on a land route used by migrants to enter the EU through Hungary before travelling onto Western Europe, including the Channel.
Almost 100,000 migrants crossed the Western Balkans in 2023 before entering the EU through Hungary’s border with Serbia. As of October 18, 955 migrants entered the bloc through the Balkans route in 2024 according to figures published by Frontex, the EU’s border agency on Tuesday.
A total of 29,437 people entered Britain on small boats in 2023. As of Nov 2, more than 31,000 have crossed in 2024.
More than 50 people have died trying to make the crossing this year, according to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration.
Mr Kovacs said that the EU system had long been proved a failure. Simply replicating Dublin with Britain would not interest Hungary, he said.
”We stick to what we say. It’s all unnecessary if you stick to your original plan, and that is don’t let them in,” he said.
Fidesz MEP András László told the Telegraph, “The EU’s migration system is currently falling apart. EU countries should first fix the mess in the Schengen area.”
A UK Government spokesperson said.“International cooperation is vital to smash the criminal smuggling gangs. We are rebuilding strong relationships across Europe to address our common challenge of irregular migration. It is the first duty of any government to secure its borders.”
Hungary is one of the most fiercely anti-migrant governments in the EU and has a track record of vetoing or blocking proposals it disagrees with.
Mr Orban has repeatedly lambasted Brussels for refusing to pay towards the upkeep of its border fence and refused to take in EU quotas of relocated refugees from other member states.
At the summit, he attacked European court decisions ruling Hungary had broken EU asylum laws as “judicial activism”.
Paris and Berlin want Brussels to begin negotiations with the UK and argue the lack of replacement rules for Dublin is a pull factor for migrants to travel to Western Europe.
While France and Germany are the two most influential member states, both have exceptionally weak governments at the moment.
Endorsed Donald Trump
In contrast, Mr Orban’s influence has been boosted thanks to his strong relationship with Donald Trump, who he endorsed to win the US elections.
Anand Menon, director of the UK in a Changing Europe think tank, said, “The fact is some states are more bothered by immigration than others and so getting unanimity will be hard. Especially as the EU will insist on us taking what they regard as our fair share.”
Migration remains a hugely divisive issue in the bloc. Countries such as Italy and Greece believe they have been left alone to shoulder Europe’s burden, while other nations suspect them of simply waving migrants through to Western Europe.
The European Commission rejected British pleas for a returns agreement during the original Brexit negotiations.
Brussels has been cool on the idea ever since, preferring to force the UK to negotiate costly bilateral deals with member states.
Any deal will come with strings attached, including agreeing to take in a share of relocated genuine refugees from the EU and pledging continued membership of the non-EU European Court of Human Rights.
The EU wants a youth mobility deal, which Labour has ruled out. It also wants to negotiate access to British waters in fishing talks before beginning talks on revamping the Brexit trade deal.
A UK-EU summit is planned for 2025, which will be Sir Keir’s chance to pitch his “reset” of relations to the bloc’s gathered prime ministers and presidents.