Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén described what, above all, the Brussels bureaucracy has done with Hungary so far regarding the issue of migration as unfair, unlawful and anti-democratic.
In Budapest on Wednesday, on the opening day of the conference Budapest Forum for Christian Communicators, Mr Semjén stressed that the way Brussels acted was also unfair towards the issuer countries as if everyone leaves, then the question arises: who will re-build those states? When these people were invited to Europe, they did not consult us, and now that they are here, they would like to distribute them. As part of this, they would first pick for themselves those who have qualifications, and would “dump” the rest on Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania, the Deputy Prime Minister observed.
What they did is unlawful also for the reason, he added, that they encouraged everyone by saying that they are welcome to enter; at the same time, Hungary simply observed the Schengen Agreement and the Dublin Convention. The procedure is also anti-democratic as they did not consult their own people on the matter. By contrast, in Hungary there was a referendum, and the Hungarian people stated clearly that they do not wish to become an immigrant country.
The politician stressed that a distinction must be made between economic migration and refugees whose lives are in danger due to their political or religious convictions.
Hungary helps every genuine refugee, and fully honours all its international obligations, he stated. Mr Semjén described responsibility as concentric circles, the innermost representing families, the second one’s nation, while the furthest humanity. Mixing these up is a major interference with the way of the world, he said in evaluation. Our answer is this: the normal solution is if there is a family support system which promotes the births of Hungarian children who will grow up in Hungarian culture, he said.
He pointed out that today we are compelled to face two types of Christian persecution. One of them is the type that one can observe in Western Europe, which is the relativization and marginalisation of Christian values, often leading to the falsification of history. The other type is the persecution of Christians in the East who suffer from misery and poverty in the given region, and additionally exist as Christian minorities in a sea of Islam, he said.
He pointed out that, as a unique measure, Hungary established a state secretariat for helping persecuted Christians, and has provided assistance for some 50,000 people from state funds. This by far exceeds Hungary’s financial opportunities, and is a much greater effort than the efforts made by some richer Western countries, he said.
At the same time, no one can possibly believe that Hungary or Europe should take in all the poor people of the world, he pointed out.
Mr Semjén said that while there may be situations when migration is a lesser evil, it is a negative process at any event as it means that a person cannot live his or her life in the country he or she was born in. He believes that it is primarily the given country’s bad government that is responsible for migration, and for the conditions that give rise to the phenomenon of migration. At the same time, he also spoke about former colonial countries, and said they should not try to shift their bad conscience onto us, “we did not colonise anyone, we did not rob anyone”.
Those who invited these people to Europe are also responsible for what has happened, he observed. He asked: would it not have been fairer for them to say they will not let migrants in, so they should not risk their lives?