It is our goal for the European Union to embrace all that the Hungary Helps Programme stands for, Tristan Azbej, Minister of State responsible for helping persecuted Christians and the implementation of the Hungary Helps Programme at the Prime Minister’s Office said on Sunday at the migration conference of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) held in Budapest.
Mr Azbej highlighted that the Hungarian programme has proved its worth, it is clearly working, and therefore the next step is to convince as many governments and international organisations as possible that this form of providing aid and assistance works.
“We would like the European Union to embrace all that the Hungary Helps Programme stands for and to adopt it within its own policies,” he added.
The Minister of State said “we would like the next European Commission to allocate at least as much funding to local assistance and providing help for persecuted Christians as they are currently dedicating – in our view erroneously – to managing and supporting migration”.
The Minister of State pointed out that the goal is to elevate Hungary Helps to V4 Helps over time. Polish-Hungarian cooperation is already under way, the two countries are jointly supporting an Orthodox orphanage in the Middle East, he observed.
The basic tenets of the Hungary Helps Programme are “sincerity, directness and support tailored to specific needs, and this is different from the basic tenets of large Western countries and international organisations,” he added.
Mr Azbej said we ask directly whom we would like to help what they need. We support local Christian communities directly, “we do not involve large, intransparent international organisations and agencies”.
The Minister of State mentioned as an example the settlement of Tel Askouf situated in the Nineveh Plains where in 2014 1,300 families fled from and most of the buildings were destroyed. With Hungarian aid worth less than 2 million euros, the settlement has been rebuilt, and as a result, 1,000 families have been able to move back to their homes. Those who have moved back have given the settlement a new name: “Tel Askouf – Hungary’s daughter”.
He added that this is good feedback for Hungary, it shows that direct, targeted aid works, and “we must present this model to the international community”.
Following in the footsteps of “Hungary’s daughter”, we would also like to see settlements such as “Germany’s son” or “the UN’s grandson” being built, Mr Azbej said.