Government: Hungary ready to discuss migrant quotas

Budapest, September 17 (MTI) – Hungary in principle opposes the European Union proposal on the distribution of migrants based on quotas but is willing to discuss ways to help countries most affected, government office chief Janos Lazar said on Thursday.

Lazar told a weekly press conference that since the announcement on June 17 to seal off the country’s borders, Hungary has been the only EU member that was able to fulfill the Schengen agreement. As a result, there are hardly any people who need to be looked after in refugee camps in Hungary, he added.

Now that the camps are empty, Hungary is ready for a debate about what considerations should be applied when helping countries with many refugees.

Commenting on international reactions, he said the Austrian chancellor and the Romanian prime ministers have directed “hate speech” towards Hungarians.

Janos Lazar told a weekly press conference that Wednesday’s clashes between police and migrants proved that there was a need for a border fence strengthened by live forces.

“Among all the European blah-blah”, this has been an efficient measure, he added.

He said suggestions that the current wave of migration has been an organised effort were noteworthy, considering that migrants were being transported from the Serbian-Macedonian border to a short stretch of the border between southern Hungary and Serbia, and the organisers were able to influence the directions.

The police’s resorting to violence was not a welcome development, even if it was necessary and applied proportionately, Lazar said.

Lazar insisted that Hungary had asked the European Union for assistance to enforce Schengen regulations, but has not been helped. He noted that while the European Commission has allocated 500 million euros each to Italy and Greece to manage migration issues, Hungary has been granted 65 million euros. So far, the country has spent a total 200 million euros on migrant-related issues, he said.

He told a weekly press conference that the proposal will apply to regulations on deadlines and required documents, and will result in changes to licensing and review procedures. The target is that any official procedure should be completed within sixty days.

Fees will be reduced by a total of 10 billion forints (EUR 32.2m), he added.

Lazar also revealed that the government is planning to introduce salary caps for state-owned company executives. He said the government is looking at setting the caps at 3, 4 and 5 million forints, adding that they would be set on a sector-by-sector basis. Executives of companies making losses would not be eligible for bonuses, Lazar said.

Lazar said the plan was based on an impact assessment carried out by the head of the state audit office, with the goal of eliminating concealed salaries. Lazar said exemptions could still be made in some cases if foreign experts are employed.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters