Hungarian Lawmakers Debate Govt’s Migration Amendment Proposal
- 18 Jun 2015 9:00 AM
Lawmakers held a debate in parliament over an amendment filed by three senior Fidesz officials to tighten rules on granting refugee status in Hungary. The bill motioned to declare a certain set of countries “safe” in terms of immigration and that entrants from these transit countries should be denied asylum. Antal Rogán, head of the parliamentary group of ruling Fidesz, said Europe has basically “abandoned the Schengen treaty” over the past few days as one border was closed after the other.
He mentioned Serbia as one of the “safe” third countries and said that migrants coming from that country should be sent back. The co-ruling Christian Democrats and the radical nationalist Jobbik party supported the bill, while opposition parties argued against it.
Socialist lawmakers left the chamber during the debate. Imre Vejkey (ChristDem) said EU laws were unfit to tackle a rise in immigrants. Ádám Mirkóczki (Jobbik) said immigrants were coming to Europe to “abuse the benefits system” and Hungary could easily become a “target country” if laws were tightened in the west.
András Schiffer, co-leader of opposition LMP, said EU countries did not have the resources to deal with immigration-related problems alone. Zsuzsanna Szelényi, a lawmaker for opposition Együtt, said Hungary should work on a solution jointly with other member states, adding that the bill in its current form only “paved the way to deportations”.
Tímea Szabó (PM) said closing the borders would not ease the burden on authorities, as they still had to examine requests for asylum in a preliminary procedure.
Source www.hungarymatters.hu - Visit Hungary Matters to sign-up for MTI’s twice-daily newsletter.
LATEST NEWS IN current affairs