Government office chief: Quota system has failed

The European Union’s migrant quota scheme has failed, the government office chief said on Thursday, stating that member states had only relocated 29 percent of the designated number of asylum seekers by the Sept. 26 deadline.

Member states managed to take in just 29,144 migrants of the 98,255 that had been agreed on, János Lázár told a his weekly news conference. This shows that the institutional common immigration system is destined to fail, he argued.

Lázár said the European Commission’s voluntary resettlement scheme designed to relocate 50,000 migrants would meet the same fate, adding that it was “baffling” why Brussels was forcing the issue.

The government office chief said border protection was a national competency and reiterated that the government had no intention of participating in the EU’s joint migration policy.

“The government will of course not relocate anyone to Hungary,” Lázár insisted.

On the topic of the government’s public survey to be launched early next month, Lázár said the questionnaire focuses on US financier George Soros’s immigration plan.

Lázár said that under the plan, the European Union must accommodate one million immigrants a year, break down its border controls and provide migrants with 9 million forints’ (EUR 29,000) worth of financial aid over their first two years in the EU. In addition, migrants would be shown leniency when it comes to punishment for unlawful acts and the EU would set up a joint asylum agency, Lázár said. Moreover, nation states would be replaced by “a new social structure”.

The public survey, dubbed “national consultation”, is now accessible and copies of it will be sent out to every household by the start of November, he said.

As regards Germany’s recent parliamentary elections, Lázár said Hungary’s interest lay in Germany having a strong and stable government. He congratulated CDU/CSU on their victory, adding that the ruling coalition would enforce their joint values.

Lázár said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will visit Romania’s Transylvanian region over the weekend, adding that there was a good chance the prime minister could reach a “fair agreement” with officials there on the status of a school for ethnic Hungarians in Targu Mures.

On the topic of Ukraine’s new education law, Lázár said Hungary strove for good relations with Ukraine, adding, at the same time, that Hungary could not accept Transcarpathian Hungarians being stripped of their basic minority rights.

“This is a pan-European issue,” he insisted.

Asked about rising hospital debts, Lázár said the government was ready to settle the debt of hospitals. The state will foot all expired bills, he said. This decision is likely to be made at the end of the year, depending on how much expired debt hospitals have, he added.

He said the cabinet would discuss the subsidisation of vaccinations next week. There is a professional consensus on making the chickenpox vaccine compulsory and free of charge, he added. The vaccine against meningitis C and B could also be made free. Talks are also ongoing about subsidising the vaccines against rotavirus and hepatitis, Lázár said.

The cabinet also discussed the Digital Welfare Programme, Lázár said, noting that by 2018, the scheme would provide all four million households with access to higher internet speeds. Government services are also being expanded from 220 billion forints, he added.

Plans are also under way to boost and expand broadband internet and WiFi networks in schools and universities, he said.

Lázár also said the government has declared the capacity expansion at German carmaker Mercedes’ plant in Kecskemét, in central Hungary, a priority project. The investment will create 2,500 new jobs by 2020-21.

Regional airports in Szeged, Békéscsaba, Debrecen, Győr and other cities are all set to undergo upgrades, he said.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI