In recent years ethnic minorities such as Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians, as well as majority Albanian nationals, have arrived in Hungary in large numbers.

The office said the vast majority of applicants leave Hungary for Western Europe, but “we do not collect such data separately”.

In the evaluation of Hungarian authorities Kosovo is a safe country from where people ought not to flee.

Refugees interviewed by Népszabadság in recent days speak of dire poverty and discrimination against ethnic minorities.

In addition, they say institutional corruption is obvious at every level, and that the political class is entwined with organised crime.

The governing elite uses ethnic conflicts with Serbs to divert attention from social bankruptcy. The money given by the international community is lost through institutional theft, they claim.

In the past two months as many as 50,000 people have left Kosovo due to lack of prospects. Serbia formerly turned all Kosovars back at its border, but that is no longer the case.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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MTI photo: Kelemen Zoltán Gergely