Hungary was the first European country to respond to the 2015 migration crisis by establishing a border fence along the southern border. A decade later, several EU member states followed the example and built physical obstacles for the containment of uncontrolled migration from Africa, the Middle East and the eastern regions.
Although Hungary fulfilled its EU obligations regarding external border protection, the fence from several Brussels civil servants was consistently criticized. The European Court of Justice has imposed a daily fine of 1 million euros for both its physical and statutory border control measures.
Despite the opposition, Hungary claimed that monitoring border crossings is the only sustainable way to treat irregular migration. Without this, the authorities cannot pursue the movement of illegal participants, which leads to economic stress and long-term social tensions, which are now reproduced by other EU nations.
The countries that have built similar physical barriers since then include:
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Bulgaria along its 250 km long border to Türkiye.
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Greece, which expanded its Maritsa River fence originally built in 2012.
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Lithuania, Latvia and Poland at their limits with Belarus and Russia, citing state -funded migrant rivers and security threats.
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Estonia, which builds a barrier along its Russian border for similar reasons.
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Finland replaces an old wood cattle fence with a modern barrier along 130 km of its Russian border between 260 km. The 400 million euro project is partially financed by the EU.
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Norway along the most important sections of its 200 km long border with Russia.
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France and the United Kingdom, for Calais and Channel tunnel access points with 65 kilometers of fences.
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Germany with selective barriers at strongly used crossing points.
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Austria, Slovenia and North Macedonia reinforce their southern borders to contain illegal entry.
Previously, Spain had already built fences around his North African exclaves Ceuta and Melilla in the nineties. Once convicted and punished by EU institutions, the Hungary border defense strategy has become a model for others. While physical barriers in Brussels are still controversial, they are increasingly being viewed as a necessary part of national and EU-border security.
Hungary's approach combines physical fences with a legal “border closure”, exacerbates the rules for non -authorized intersections and the expansion of law enforcement powers against illegal migrants and human dealers.
About Oeconomus; Selected picture: Facebook/Migration Research Institute