According to the Government Spokesperson, Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog has been the subject of false and contemptible attacks concerning the proceedings conducted by the Hungarian Government with regard to asylum seekers from the Near East.

Zoltán Kovács told Hungarian news agency MTI on Friday that the Cabinet rejects these attacks; “Hungary does not discriminate between people according to their religion or origin”, he stressed.

Spokesman for the Dialogue for Hungary (PM) Party Bence Tordai said on Friday he would be submitting written questions to the Office of Immigration and Nationality, the Ministry of Interior and the Office of the Prime Minister, because he does not believe the statement by the Government according to which Hungary took in a thousand Christian families from Iraq and Egypt in 2013-2014.

The Government Spokesperson told MTI: “Everyone can find out from the Eurostat database how many asylum applications and requests for nationality submitted by people from countries in the Near East were accepted by the Hungarian State from 2010-2015.” “This data is also available by request from the Office of Immigration and Nationality in accordance with transparency regulations, and the numbers clearly show that Hungary is a welcoming state”, Mr. Kovács said.

“Hungary never discriminates between people according to their religion or origin, but vetting conducted during the course of the nationalisation procedure naturally includes questions on what religious group the individual is a member of”, the Spokesperson said, but stressed that such information is not kept on record.

“Claims that Hungary has so far only accepted Christians are totally unfounded and there is absolutely no selection of this kind”, he noted. “The Hungarian authorities always act in full accordance with the frameworks and opportunities provided by law with regard to rulings on asylum applications”, he added.

(Prime Minister's Office)