Brussels mayor vows to block migrant buses if Hungary follows up on threats

Brussels mayor Philippe Close has censured Hungary's plan to bus illegal migrants from the Hungarian-Serbian border to the Belgian capital, saying that the Belgian authorities stand ready to block the buses.

"I've spoken to the Belgian Prime Minister (Alexander de Croo). We will block these buses if they ever do depart," Close said in an interview with Euronews.

Close added he believed Hungary's plan to offer migrants a "one-way ticket" to Brussels is nothing more than an empty threat.

"These buses will not leave (Hungary) in my opinion. It's clearly a provocation. Let's be very clear, they would first need to pass through other European borders, Germany's and our own," the Brussels mayor, who hails from the Belgian Socialist Party, said.

The Belgian Secretary of State for Migration, Nicole de Moor, has also vowed to send the buses back if they were ever to leave Hungary.

"This is not how we do politics," Close told Euronews. "Hungary, if it continues, will feel the consequences."

"Orbán's government is also a small government. We will resist and Hungary will buckle under the weight of Europe (...) We will not be held hostage to a far-right government like Orbán's."

The European Commission has denounced the plans as a potential breach of EU law and vowed retaliatory action. "We are standing ready to use all our powers under the treaty to ensure that the EU law is respected," a Commission spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The spokesperson added that the EU executive is in contact with the Hungarian authorities and neighbouring countries through which the convoys could pass overland.

The spat is another low point in relations between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government and the Brussels-based European institutions, which has also