Brussels refuses to help Hungary on migrants where it counts, says govt official
Budapest, July 11 (MTI) – The European Commission has rejected Hungary’s plea for financial assistance for an orphanage which caters to child migrants, a government official told Monday’s Magyar HÃrlap newspaper.
Bence Rétvári, parliamentary state secretary at the ministry of human resources, told the paper that Brussels “speaks of solidarity in vain” when it comes to actually contributing humanitarian aid.
He noted that the Károly István Centre for Children in Fót, near Budapest, accommodates and cares for minors who have arrived in Hungary without their parents. Almost all of them are male and 95 percent are between the age of 14 and 18. Currently there are 80-100, though at one point around 300 were accommodated there, he said.
Rétvári noted that the commission has a fund for migrants. Hungary applied for 3.6 billion forints of aid specifically to care for the child migrants but its request was refused. Last year alone 9,000 migrants without parents turned up in Hungary, he added.
Source: MTI
What was the reason for the refusal? Was it because of the purpose, or the amount? Quite frankly, I found the amount requested to be rather high ($14milEURO). Considering there are ~100 orphans there, that would ~ 140,000EU per orphan served.
All children should be sent back and reunited with the parents. It is unhealthy not to be raised by the family whenever it is possible. The children will deal with issues later on in life.
140,000 euro is not an outlandish sum. Consider, education, lodging, food, clothing and psychiatric help. The best solution is family reunification. This is the practice in North America and it does work. What kind of parents allow a 14 year to wonder a hostile world to expose the kids to sexual exploitation, drugs, etc.. Some parents definitely need parenting classes.