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Hungary says it has finished building a second fence on the border with Serbia to keep migrants out.
The new section, which means the fence stretches for 155 kilometres, cost 15 million euros and comes equipped with alarms and thermal imaging cameras.
Fences went up along the southern borders with Serbia and Croatia in 2015 after an estimated 400,000 migrants and refugees, many from the Middle East, passed through the country heading for Western Europe.
The first section of barbed wire was built along the 175-kilometre border between Hungary and Serbia in the summer of 2015, then along most of the frontier with Croatia.
The government says the protection of Hungary’s borders is now stronger than ever.
Interior Ministry State Secretary Karoly Kontrat visited the new barrier near the border town of Roszke on Friday.
“The government decided to build the second fence because we need to be prepared for a migratory pressure which could be even bigger than it has been until now. The mass migration afflicting Europe has been constant for the past two years. The Balkan route is invariably active and, as the summer approaches, a growing number of migrants are heading towards Europe,” the deputy minister said.
The authorities say since the beginning of the year only 165 people have crossed the Hungarian border “illegally”. “By defending its borders, Hungary is also defending the Schengen Zone,” Kontrat said.