Fining countries for refusing to accept asylum-seekers "antidemocratic": Hungarian official
Xinhua, May 6, 2016 Adjust font size:
The European Commission's proposal package that would fine countries which refuse to accept asylum-seekers is "antidemocratic" and "inhumane," Janos Lazar, chief of the Hungarian prime minister's office, said here Thursday.
Addressing a press conference, he said the countries that "invited" the migrants had been "cherry-picking" among them, and were now distributing the "leftovers" among other countries.
Lazar said the plan was "inhumane" because "it was ignoring what the migrants wanted." "They do not want to come to Central Europe but to stay in Germany," he added.
Speaking of the EU plan to deny any member country 250,000 euros in funds for every asylum-seeker it refused, Lazar said he was reminded of Europe's darkest years when the value of people was determined by ethnicity.
He also called the Commission's proposal "blackmail," adding that it would be "unworthy" of Germany, one of the world's richest countries, to ask for money from a country like Hungary to resolve the issue. Endit