“The last thing Hungary needs are costly police-state solutions or whipping up anti-EU sentiment.”

They criticised the title of the debate scheduled for Feb. 20, stating that it suggests that Hungary is a target country of economic migrants.

A distinction should be drawn between immigrants and refugees. Arrivals in Hungary who want to work, start a business or receive education are economic migrants.

Immigration is useful to the Hungarian economy and society because without it “Ukrainian and Transylvanian doctors or German businesses could not be helping us today; we would not have a Hungarian chess champion of Vietnamese origin to be proud of; we would not enjoy international delicacies; and there would be no Korean or Indian multinational companies operating successfully in Hungary.”

The number of asylum seekers increased twenty-fold in two years, yet the number of accepted applications increased from 462 in 2012 to only 535 in 2014, the letter said.

Hungary spent only 0.015 percent of the budget on immigration issues last year, or 2.6 billion forints (EUR 4.5m). Contrary to general belief, the European Union grants considerable sums for handling the situation and the asylum procedure in Hungary is among the shortest in Europe, it added.

The prime minister’s proposal that detainees should be forced to work to generate the income necessary for their upkeep evokes the darkest days of Hungarian history, characterised by forced labour camps, it said.

The Hungarian government should take action to promote EU development policies that make Kosovo a more livable place, it said, adding that it should ask for financial and professional help from the EU to handle the situation on the Serbian- Hungarian border and take action in cooperation with the EU to make Serbia efficiently send back or receive back Kosovar citizens who are not eligible for international protection or residence under other titles

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

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