Hungary Will Send Economic Migrants Back to Home Countries, Says Foreign Minister

Hungary will register all migrants that come to the country and send economic migrants back to the state from which they entered Hungary, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told reporters on Tuesday.

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He also said Hungary, which has been struggling with a large influx of migrants in recent months, did not support the quota system for migrant distribution, saying such a system only encourages migrants and smugglers.

"We plan to register all migrants regardless of the fact that we are not the first member state they enter. We will register everyone who submits the request for asylum and carry out the procedure," Szijjarto told reporters on the sidelines of a business conference in Bled in Slovenia.

"If the decision is positive the refugee can stay, but if it is not positive we cannot give shelter to the economic migrants, we cannot bear that burden, so they will be returned where they come from," he added.

Janos Lazar, chief of staff to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, told lawmakers that Hungary disagreed with Germany's openness to taking refugees from war-torn Syria. He blamed Germany and what he called other "left-wing governments" in Europe for encouraging the rush of migrants that has staggered Hungary both on its borders at in its capital city.

Earlier on Tuesday Hungary forcibly removed hundreds of migrants from the Budapest main railway station, from where they planned to travel towards Austria and Germany. The asylum-seekers protested around the station for hours, waving newly purchased tickets amid cries of "Freedom!" and "Germany!"