(Photo: MTI/Sándor Újvári)

In questioning the practicality of the fence, which the Hungarian government hopes will in part solve the issue of immigration in the European Union, and especially Hungary, Kingsley writes that “at its most effective (from a Hungarian point of view), the thousands of migrants heading up from Greece and Bulgaria will simply make their way through Croatia or another neighboring country. At its most pointless, the wall simply acts as a public relations exercise aimed at the Hungarian public, rather than at foreigners.”

Citing recent reports, the journalist says that, since only “very little of the fence has actually been built”, it only serves as a “mental blockage, rather than a physical one”. Kingsley believes the fence “creates the illusion for a domestic audience that something is being done about migration, even when it isn’t – and even when it can’t.”

In reference to the many fences and walls that have been built with “limited effect”, he argues that “it is inconceivable that a slender fence will stop people who will soon cross the Mediterranean, and the Libyan civil war.”