Hungary today gave the army drastic new powers to stem illegal migration ahead of a series of crunch EU meetings this week on how to deal with the unrelenting stream of refugees entering Europe.
Hundreds of thousands fleeing conflict and poverty have already made it into western Europe this year, with Austria registering 22,700 arrivals this weekend alone, having been shunted from one Balkan country to the next as they travelled up from Greece.
Lawmakers in Hungary, which sealed off its border with Serbia last week to avoid migrants and refugees using the country as a thoroughfare to the west, today approved a final package of sweeping new anti-migrant laws.
Under the legislation, the army is allowed to take part in border control and use non-lethal force, while police will be able to enter private homes to look for illegal migrants.
It comes a week after illegal border-crossing became a crime punishable by up to five years in jail.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban told lawmakers in Budapest that migrants were "overrunning" Europe.
"They're not just banging on the door, they're breaking the door down on top of us," the 52-year-old right-winger said.
"Our borders are in danger, our way of life built on respect for the law, Hungary and the whole of Europe is in danger."
The continent's worst migration crisis since World War II has exposed deep rifts within the 28-nation European Union, particularly between members in the former communist east and the wealthier west, the migrants' preferred destination.
EU interior ministers will meet tomorrow, in the hope that progress will be made by the time a bloc-wide emergency summit opens on Wednesday.
Today foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Latvia - all of which reject proposals for binding migrant quotas championed by Germany - met in Prague with their counterpart from Luxembourg, which holds the EU presidency.
Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna said Warsaw could take in more refugees than its share under the proposed European Union quota plan to relocate 120,000 people, but stressed this should be on a voluntary basis and under certain conditions.
Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said after the talks that they were "absolutely dedicated" to reaching an agreement with fellow EU nations.
"We're aware that Europe needs joint collective action to accelerate the solution to the still very painful situation," he added.
