Hungary’s humanitarian policy is received with appreciation and openness in Germany, said Tristan Azbej, Minister of State at the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for helping persecuted Christians, on Tuesday in Munich in evaluation of his two-day visit to Germany.
Regarding humanitarian issues and the migration crisis that is their root cause, Hungarian and German actors disagree as to whether the emphasis should be on assistance offered locally and resettlement. They agree, however, that “it is a good method to take help to the source region of migration,” and that we must fight in order to put an end to the root causes that give rise to humanitarian and migration crises, the Minister of State said talking to the Hungarian news agency MTI by telephone.
At the Hungarian Consulate General in Munich on Tuesday an exhibition entitled Cross-in-Fire: Christian Persecution in the Middle East was opened. The exhibition was jointly organised by the Hungarian National Museum and the Migration Research Institute. Mr Azbej said at the opening ceremony of the exhibition “German actors made brave statements, and clearly endorsed Hungary’s policy on the issue”.
Johannes Singhammer, a reputable politician of the Christian Social Union, former Vice-President of the Bundestag pointed out that a humanitarian policy that focuses on the protection of persecuted Christians is unique and rare world-wide, and highlighted that with this the Hungarian government is setting an example for the West that is worth following.
Mr Singhammer stressed that Christians constitute the single most persecuted community, but Western governments and international organisations do not pay enough attention to their suffering and untenable situation. In Hungary, however, a separate department of the government - a state secretariat at the Prime Minister’s Office which is responsible for helping persecuted Christians – and a separate government programme – the Hungary Helps Programme – serve the persecuted community.
In his speech, criticising Germany’s migration policy, the former Vice-President of the Bundestag highlighted that Islamists who joined the ranks of Jihadist organisations in the Middle East should not be allowed to enter the territory of the European Union, and that “we must not allow immigrants who are not prepared to integrate to force their customs on the native population”.
Mr Azbej said the other Bavarian speaker of the opening ceremony, Wolf Krug, the head of the Institute for European and Transatlantic Dialogue (Institut für Europaischen und Transatlantischen Dialog) of the CSU-associated Hanns Seidel Foundation (Hanns Seidel Stiftung) drew attention to the significance of the Hungary Helps Programme as an arrangement that caters for unfilled needs, in particular, its activities in Iraq, and also stressed that the Hungarian example should be followed.
The Minister of State further said that during the visit to locations in Bavaria and Hessen, they conducted a series of bilateral talks, and staff members of the State Secretariat organised a workshop for the German organisation (Kirche in Not) of the international Catholic pastoral aid organisation Aid to the Church in Need. He said the meetings also covered new possibilities of cooperation and a joint campaign in Iraq with the German international development agency (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – GIZ), while at the Bavarian prime minister’s office they spoke about a possible cooperation scheme in Sub-Saharan Africa.
(MTI)
