At a press conference on Wednesday, Parliamentary Minister of State at the Ministry of Human Capacities Bence Rétvári said that the European Commission has not financed the care of unaccompanied minors arriving in Hungary last year.
He said that the Commission rejected the Hungarian request, arguing that caring for several thousand minors did not amount to a state of emergency. He said that Hungary requested support from the migration fund for the 2015 “migration crisis year”, but was not even granted a symbolic amount.
According to Mr. Rétvári, the rejection proves that “European solidarity is only a slogan used by Brussels politicians and bureaucrats”, and while Brussels sets the tasks, ultimately the costs have to be borne locally. He also said Hungary will fight the Union’s bullying, unlawful and unreasonable migration quota system.
He quoted data from the Immigration and Citizenship Office, which showed that last year 8,000 minors entered Hungary illegally, of which 3,500 ended up in the childcare system, where they received the same care as Hungarian children. Hungary set up two reception centres, in Fót and Hódmezővásárhely, and asked for partial compensation of 1.2 billion Forints (EUR 3.8 million). Mr. Rétvári said that it is difficult to understand and accept that Brussels will not even contribute to the care of children arriving in Hungary.
He said that of the minors arriving illegally in Hungary last year, 88 per cent were aged 14 to 18, 99.5 per cent were male and 82.5 per cent declared themselves to be Afghans. He added that last year Hungary spent 5.5 billion Forints (EUR 17.5 million) on care and humanitarian support for refugees, of which 350 million Forints was in the healthcare system.
The unedited video of the press conference can be downloaded from the press room.
(Ministry of Human Capacities/MTI)
