Socialists want state secretariat to deal with emigration

The opposition Socialists call on the government to set up a crisis team and a state secretariat within the Prime Minister’s Office to find solutions for preventing the mass exodus of Hungarians, a board member of the party said on Sunday.

Some 600,000 Hungarians have left the country to live and work abroad over the past years and Central Statistical Office data show that another 250,000 are planning to follow suit, Dávid Bihal told a press conference.

Eighty percent of those gone had left Hungary for a financial reason, party member Barnabás Mester said, noting that two-thirds of those who left are in their most active age, between 16 and 45.

“This means that Hungary is losing a generation that should be building the country’s future”, he said.

The state secretariat initiated by the Socialists should draft a “credible” family and housing policy and develop a high-standard education system that keeps young Hungarians at home, he said.