The European Union may resettle 100,000 to 120,000 migrants in Hungary under its mandatory quota plan, János Lázár, minister of the Prime Minister's Office has told makohirado.hu.
Minister Lázár warned that that number, in light of reunited families and further children, could mean “a continuously growing community of 500,000-600,000”.
He said it was “questionable” how members of that community, people “from completely different cultures and societies… strongly attached to their own religious and cultural identities” could integrate into local society.
Referring to calls by the opposition for voters to stay away from the upcoming quota referendum October 2, Lázár said that people must not “give up their right to vote”, while politicians campaigning against the referendum are actually “attacking fundamental values of democracy”.
The minister also reiterated the government’s earlier position that Hungary is ready to ensure protection to political refugees. As for economic migrants, however, “we are ready to support – in proportion with the country’s economic strength – those who live in worse conditions than we do, but that aid must be provided where they were born, where they live, and where the problems arose,” he added.
“We must accommodate refugees, but we must also protect Europe’s borders from immigrations and we need to create points where people who want to enter can do so,” Lázár said. He criticised Germany for “sorting migrants and picking those it needs” while the rest should be “distributed across Europe”.