According to George Soros’s plan, a total of 30 thousand euros would have to be paid out over a period of two years to help the integration of illegal immigrants”, Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács said at a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday.

“According to conservative estimates, some one and a half million illegal immigrants have arrived in Europe during the past one and a half to two years, which according to George Soros’s plan would mean a cost of 45 billion euros, which corresponds to 40 percent of Hungarian GDP”, he stressed.

Mr. Kovács also spoke about the fact that the sum mentioned in the plan equates to one hundred and six times the Hungarian minimum wage, meaning it would take a Hungarian living on the minimum wage nine years to earn as much as George Soros wants to spend on the integration of a single migrant.

“This plan is not only shocking because of the high sum it includes, but also because the plan is to finance it out of European VAT increases and further taxes on petrol consumption and tourism, in addition to the reduction of EU agriculture and cohesion funding”, the Government Spokesperson explained.

Mr. Kovács also pointed out that what lies behind the threats and political blackmail against Hungary’s firm standing on migration is the idea that the costs of illegal immigration must somehow be raise.

As an example he mentioned the fact that in an interview former EU Commissioner Viviane Reding had threatened Hungary with the reduction of its cohesion funding if the country is not prepared to cooperate with relation to the mandatory quota.

According to Mr. Kovács, the whole of Europe has been coughing u the costs of illegal immigration for two years now. “More forward-looking countries such as Hungary have, for instance, spent money on prevention and border protection”, he explained, adding that in 2017 Germany earmarked 4.1 billion euros for aid, meaning the benefits that George Soros is also talking about.

The Government Spokesperson also mentioned that an asylum-seeker waiting for their case to be decided upon in Germany, and who wishes to take part in various programmes, receives around 354 euros-a-month, which is more than 110 thousand forints.

This also indicates that huge costs are involved in efforts to achieve integration, and that taking into account the state of security in Western Europe and the failure of integration “we should have no doubt that the true social costs are much greater”.

“In view of all this, the Hungarian Government continues to believes that illegal migration represents a threat, and especially so if the European Union wants to introduce it in an institutionalised form in accordance with George Soros’s plan”, Mr. Kovács highlighted.

The Government Spokesperson underlined the fact that since the Cabinet cannot count on the support of the opposition in this issue, it is asking every Hungarian to fill out and return the national Consultation questionnaire, which could provide major assistance to the Hungarian Government for representing the country’s standpoint in the ongoing “extremely important EU debates” on illegal immigration.

(MTI)