The EU migrant crisis is getting worse. It is out of control. The Schengen Zone is collapsing. Germany has now reinstated its borders with Austria. Slovakia and Austria have also reintroduced border controls with Hungary.
Why? Because in the last few months tens of thousands of migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and parts of Africa have been crossing Europe to get to Germany.
The Hungarians have now built a 180km long 4m (13ft) high fence along their southern border with Serbia to stop them. At midnight, on the orders of its prime minister Victor Orbán, Hungary sealed its southern border with Serbia.
The EU migrant crisis deepens by the week. Europe is being overrun by migrants. Yet the unelected leaders in Brussels do nothing except utter a lot of hot air. They seem to care more for the migrants coming in than its own citizens.
Exasperated with a lack of action and decision making Hungary has taken action. The country will build a 175km (110 miles) long, 4 metre-tall (13-foot) fence right across the southern part of Hungary that connects it to Serbia. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said it is doing so because the EU is ‘too slow to act’. The migrants coming into the EU seek a better life. They want to get to Britain, Holland, France and Sweden.
Many people who visit Central Europe like to visit Budapest. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The mighty river Danube flows majestically north to south right through its centre. The city is rightly known as ‘The Queen of the Danube’. It is also known as the ‘City of Spas’, as there are a dozen thermal spa complexes served by over a hundred thermal springs.
Budapest was created out of the unification of the historic towns of Buda, Pest and Óbuda (old Buda) in 1873. Today the city covers an area of 200 square miles. It is home to a population of 1.8m people. Buda and Óbuda occupy about a third of the area and are situated mainly in the hills to the west, with commercial Pest on the plains to the east. There are three islands in the middle of the river Danube. They are Margaret Island, which is the most famous, Óbuda Island, and Csepel Island.
Category: Central Europe / Places to Visit / Budapest
Hungary’s recent toxic sludge spill is the country’s worst ever environmental disaster. On the 4th October a reservoir holding deadly waste burst after heavy rains, releasing at least a million cubic metres of toxic red muddy water. It was like a mini tsunami and devastated three nearby villages.
The Hungarian government immediately declared a state of emergency in three counties. Seven people were killed; 150 were injured, with hundreds suffering toxic burns. The deadly sludge came from an aluminium plant reservoir. The toxic muddy waste is a waste product from the refinement of bauxite to alumina, the material used to manufacture aluminium.
The red mud contained an oxide that gave it a red colour. It also contained heavy metals, such as lead, that have a caustic affect on the skin and was slightly radioactive. The toxic water killed fish, and many other life forms. It made the immediate area look like the red planet Mars. The smell from the spill was also pretty bad.
Category: Europe / Hungary / Toxic Leak
