BBC: Orbán wants fund to strengthen Europe’s borders
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is expected to propose at today’s EU leaders’ summit that each member state should pay 1% of its income from the union, plus an additional 1% of its contributions to it, into a fund to improve conditions for refugees in the Middle East while strengthening Europe’s borders, according to the BBC.
Based on the BBC’s calculations, this would amount, in Hungary’s case, to €1 bln.
Orbán (pictured) is expected to argue that the proposed special fund should be used to improve conditions in the refugee camps in countries near Syria, with special attention falling on Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan – so that refugees would choose to stay in those countries. The money would also be used to bolster Europe’s external borders, under Orbán’s plans, the BBC report says.
The European Union yesterday approved the distribution of 120,000 refugees in the next two years among its 28 member states. It is not called a quota system anymore, as members are expected to “voluntarily” take the suggested numbers of refugees. Under the plan, Hungary, which voted against the agreement, would have to take 306 refugees from Italy, 988 from Greece and 1,058 from other EU countries.
Hungary has seen more than 250,000 refugees pass through the country this year, and thousands of refugees have been arriving to the country through Croatia on a daily basis, bypassing the fence on the Hungarian-Serbian border.
Most of these refugees have already left the country, and most who are still here say they want to leave, with Germany being their preferred destination.
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