Official: EC failed to grant Hungary aid to help unaccompanied migrant children

Budapest (MTI) – Hungary did not receive any emergency aid from the European Commission to support unaccompanied migrant children who entered the country last year, a human resources ministry official said on Wednesday.

Bence Rétvári, parliamentary state secretary, told a press conference that the EC’s reasoning for not sending aid was that the need to provide care to thousands of children is not considered an emergency.

Rétvári said Hungary had asked the EC for 1.2 billion forints (EUR 3.8m) in emergency aid to fund the orphanages in Fót near Budapest and Hódmezővásárhely in southern Hungary.

Rétvári noted that the government last year asked for EU aid from the bloc’s migration fund to ease the burden the migration crisis had placed on the budget, but Hungary received no financial support whatsoever.

The state secretary said this meant that European solidarity “is just a slogan from the bureaucrats and politicians of Brussels”. He said Brussels was ready to assign tasks to member states, but was unwilling to pay for their completion.

Citing data from Hungary’s immigration office, he said some 8,000 unaccompanied children entered Hungary in 2015, more than 3,500 of whom were provided care by the state. Fully 88 percent of the minors were between the ages of 14 and 18, and 99.5 percent of them were boys. A total of 82.5 percent of migrant children claimed to be from Afghanistan.

Hungary spent some 5.5 billion forints on the accommodation, feeding and medical treatment of refugees in 2015.

He said Hungary remains committed to challenging the mandatory refugee quota system which he said would be “unlawfully and irrationally forced onto” member states.

Photo: MTI

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