Hungarian government has discussed using army to help tackle migrants

Hungary's government has discussed how the army could be used to help secure the country's southern border, where a surge of migrants are entering the European Union, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said on Wednesday.

Kovacs said any decision to use the army must be based on a decision by parliament, which would discuss the issue next week.

"Hungary's government and national security cabinet... has discussed the question of how the army could be used to help protect Hungary's border and the EU's border," Kovacs said.

A surge in migrants, many of them refugees from Syria, hit Hungary's southern border on Tuesday, passing through gaps in an unfinished barrier to a Europe groping for answers to its worst refugee crisis since World War Two.