Orban "thundered": No chance

Orbán noted that since 2015, when it was the "peak of the migrant crisis", Hungary has consistently called for the protection of the external borders of the European Union.

"Instead of whining and avoiding responsibility, the country took a deep breath, erected a fence and stopped the migrants. Hungarians stood up for their interests and did not become an immigrant country and will not become one, no matter what Brussels does... Hungary belongs to Hungarians, period", Orban said in an interview with Radio Kossuth, reports MTI.

Orbán said he is confident that the European Commission will reimburse Hungary for the costs of protecting the EU's external border against illegal migration, Reuters reported.

Hungary closed a major transit route through Hungary to hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers fleeing war and poverty in 2015, bolstering support among its fellow citizens but drawing criticism from many EU allies.

"Hungary must be compensated for what border protection cost us," Orbán said.

The head of Orbán's cabinet said yesterday that Hungary is ready to sue the Commission for the costs of border protection, which Budapest estimates at two billion euros, Reuters reported.

In June, the European Union's highest court ruled that Hungary must pay a 200 million euro fine for failing to implement changes to its policy of treating migrants and asylum seekers at its border, a decision Orbán called outrageous at the time.

"Now there is only one more step that Western European leaders should take, intellectually it is not particularly difficult: if they (leaders) say that the borders must be protected, then those who actually protect the borders should not be punished for it," said Orbán.