Why is Hungary detaining refugees who wish to leave Hungary?
September 4, 2015 3:08 PM Subscribe
Perhaps this has been explained somewhere, but none of the news I have heard has explained it: given that the refugees in Hungary wish to leave Hungary to go to Austria and Germany, why is Hungary stopping them?
I would expect that, if they aren't accepting the refugees themselves, Hungary would be happy to let them travel on to another country, even speed their way.
I would expect that, if they aren't accepting the refugees themselves, Hungary would be happy to let them travel on to another country, even speed their way.
Best answer: Under the Dublin rule refugees are supposed to register where they first land in Europe. If they pass through onto another country the later country may send the refugee back to the original place where they should have registered.
The country where the refugee registers also makes the determination as to the refugee application itself - Hungary has made it clear that it does not want itself (or the rest of europe) to accept these refugees, see quote from President Orban:
Orban reiterated on Hungarian state radio Friday his determination to stop the refugees.
"Today we are talking about tens of thousands but next year we will be talking about millions and this has no end," Orban said.
"We have to make it clear that we can't allow everyone in, because if we allow everyone in, Europe is finished," Orban went on. "If you are rich and attractive to others, you also have to be strong because if not, they will take away what you have worked for and you will be poor, too."
In effect, Hungary is following European law by trying to register everyone at the initial crossing such that they can (in all likelihood) reject their refugee applications and also prevent them from having to deal with a later situation when other European countries send them back to Hungary for registration.
They're trying to send a message that Hungary should not be used as a border crossing as well, as having hundreds of thousands of people flood your transportation network as well as walking en masse through your streets has been particularly problematic for Hungary.
posted by Karaage at 3:45 PM on September 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
The country where the refugee registers also makes the determination as to the refugee application itself - Hungary has made it clear that it does not want itself (or the rest of europe) to accept these refugees, see quote from President Orban:
Orban reiterated on Hungarian state radio Friday his determination to stop the refugees.
"Today we are talking about tens of thousands but next year we will be talking about millions and this has no end," Orban said.
"We have to make it clear that we can't allow everyone in, because if we allow everyone in, Europe is finished," Orban went on. "If you are rich and attractive to others, you also have to be strong because if not, they will take away what you have worked for and you will be poor, too."
In effect, Hungary is following European law by trying to register everyone at the initial crossing such that they can (in all likelihood) reject their refugee applications and also prevent them from having to deal with a later situation when other European countries send them back to Hungary for registration.
They're trying to send a message that Hungary should not be used as a border crossing as well, as having hundreds of thousands of people flood your transportation network as well as walking en masse through your streets has been particularly problematic for Hungary.
posted by Karaage at 3:45 PM on September 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
It's ill-advised to expect rational action from Hungary's current near-paranoid administration (previously).
Creating as ugly/visible an "enemy" as possible - so surfacing the collectivity of "migrants" that were otherwise a less evident flow of people entering and exiting the country - is paradoxically more useful to Orban to fuel the base instincts that he is running on, while at the same time diverting all attention from the grave corruption of his political cohort that was finally coming to light, recently.
With Merkel's sudden change of tack to an unequivocal humanitarian welcome, the reticence of Hungary and some of its Eastern European neighbors to overcome their backward national agendas regarding this unprecedented refugee crisis promises to be the next great test for the EU, even deeper-reaching than the recent Greek drama.
posted by progosk at 12:54 AM on September 6, 2015
Creating as ugly/visible an "enemy" as possible - so surfacing the collectivity of "migrants" that were otherwise a less evident flow of people entering and exiting the country - is paradoxically more useful to Orban to fuel the base instincts that he is running on, while at the same time diverting all attention from the grave corruption of his political cohort that was finally coming to light, recently.
With Merkel's sudden change of tack to an unequivocal humanitarian welcome, the reticence of Hungary and some of its Eastern European neighbors to overcome their backward national agendas regarding this unprecedented refugee crisis promises to be the next great test for the EU, even deeper-reaching than the recent Greek drama.
posted by progosk at 12:54 AM on September 6, 2015
(And if that's giving Orban too much diabolical credit, throw in a good measure of bumbling operational incompetence...)
posted by progosk at 2:10 AM on September 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by progosk at 2:10 AM on September 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
(Lest my take seem too contrarian with respect to the more conciliatory explanations above, here's more on Orbán's media shenanigans, xenophobia-diversion, and relative EU-rule-suspension - all Grauniad, but plentiful on data and facts.)
posted by progosk at 4:36 AM on September 6, 2015
posted by progosk at 4:36 AM on September 6, 2015
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posted by pairofshades at 3:30 PM on September 4, 2015 [2 favorites]