Most Hungarians Support Stricter Migration Rules

  • 28 Jul 2015 9:00 AM
Most Hungarians Support Stricter Migration Rules
The vast majority of Hungarians who returned the government’s questionnaire on migration said that tighter regulations are needed both on a national and a European level to stem the flow of illegal migrants into Hungary, government spokesman Zoltán Kovács said. A negligible amount of respondents disagreed with the statements in the questionnaire, Kovács told a press conference.

The spokesman said 70% of respondents considered the spread of terrorism a trend with an impact on their own lives, with 25% being uncertain and 3.6% saying they did not consider it important. About 39.3% of respondents thought there was a “serious” chance for a terrorist attack on Hungarian soil, while 56% said it was “possible”. A mere 3.7% said there was no chance for such an attack.

Fully 61% of respondents said they saw a link between the growing threat of terrorism and “Brussels’ ill-controlled migration policy”, while 27.8% said they “mostly agreed” and 11.1% said they saw no such link.

About 97% of respondents said the rise of economic migration was a “real” issue, while 72.6% said they were “aware” of the problem, 23.4% said they had “heard” of it, and 3.9% had no knowledge of the issue.

No less than 72.7% of respondents said they “fully agreed” that their jobs could be under threat from economic migrants, with 18.8% saying they “mostly agreed” and 8.5% saying they did not feel threatened.

Fully 77.4% of respondents said Brussels’ policies on migration had failed and that new regulations were needed, 17.5% said they “mostly agreed” with this position, while 5% disagreed. No less than 89.7% said they would support the government implementing stricter migration rules, 7.5% said they would partly support such measures, while 2.8% said they would not support stricter rules.

The spokesman said responses given to this question greatly influenced the government’s decision to implement a temporary border closure and order the construction of a fence along Hungary’s border with Serbia. Fully 87.9% of respondents agreed that illegal border crossers should be detained, while 9.3% partly agreed and 2.8% disagreed with such an approach.

No less than 86.1% “fully agreed” that illegal border crossers should be turned back, 10.2% partly agreed and 3.6% of respondents disagreed.

About 82.7% said economic migrants should contribute to the costs of their reception and placement, 13.5% partly agreed with this statement and 3.8% disagreed.

Fully 60.6% of respondents said EU member states aiding countries from where migrants originate was an effective way of managing the crisis, while 15% disagreed with such steps.

Twenty-four percent partly agreed with the approach.

The government spokesman said 92.9% of respondents said supporting Hungarian families and children was more important than supporting migrants.

A further 5.3% of respondents partly agreed, while 1.7% disagreed with the statement. Kovács reiterated earlier statements by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán that the border fence must be completed as soon as possible.

A total of 1,000,254 people returned the questionnaire, and 58,000 Hungarians responded online, the spokesman said.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu - Visit Hungary Matters to sign-up for MTI’s twice-daily newsletter.

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