Hungary considers deploying army to the Serbian border

The Hungarian government is considering deploying the army to its border with Serbia to try and put a stop to the flood of illegal immigrants heading for northern Europe through their territory.

A security fence built along the Hungarian border has so far failed to stem the tide of illegal immigrants who are desperate to take advantage of the lack of border controls between Hungary and Austria to access Germany, France and the UK. More than 140,000 illegal immigrants have entered Hungary this year.

The decision to deploy troops to the border or not will need to be made by the Hungarian Parliament. Six police units including dogs, mounted police and helicopters are preparing for immediate deployment to the border.

Thousands of illegal immigrants storm Macedonian border

Thousands of illegal immigrants ferried to the mainland by the Greek government have stormed the Macedonian border.

Many of those that have managed to force their way through police and military lines are escaping Syria but others have come from relatively stable countries such as Pakistan and are simply taking advantage of the opportunity to get into Europe.

The Macedonian army attempted to allow a group of 600 people with small children across the border to catch a train to Serbia where they would then go on to Hungary before making their way to France, Germany and eventually the UK. But while they tried to give safe passage to those high risk illegal immigrants, thousands of others stormed the border.

Since the EU stopped the practice of intercepting boats carrying illegal immigrants and sending them back to where they started off, the number of illegal immigrants coming to Europe has exploded as economic migrants take advantage of the relaxing of border controls and mingle with asylum seekers looking for safety.

Under international law, asylum seekers are required to claim asylum in the first safe country they enter. With the exception of those entering Europe from the volatile north African coast, every asylum seeker is illegally and should be sent back to the first safe country they entered but EU rules don't allow member states to deport illegal asylum seekers to other EU member states because that undermines the EU pretending to be a single country.

The Macedonian government is blaming the Greek government for ferrying thousands of illegal immigrants from the islands onto the mainland.