Miklós Soltész, the state secretary for church and minority relations, has praised the care Hungary has provided for refugees from Ukraine after visiting aid points at the Hungary-Ukraine border on Wednesday.
Hungarian law enforcement, local councils, government offices, charity groups and volunteers have done an “excellent” job helping refugees even though the country was “often subjected to ignoble attacks from the Ukrainian political sphere, including the Ukrainian president”, Soltész told public media in Beregsurány near the border.
Hungarians helped the refugees “in spite of the ignoble attacks, in spite of attempts to interfere in the Hungarian election system and even in spite of the fact that the ethnic Hungarian community in Transcarpathia has unfortunately been subjected to many attacks and decisions in recent years that have made their lives more difficult”, Soltész said.
But instead of being concerned with how certain Ukrainian politicians treat Hungarians, Hungary was concerned with those who are suffering, he said.
When the aid points were set up at the border and in Budapest, Hungary had not known that it would have to help 300,000 people or that it would take in close to 600,000 refugees, he said.
Soltész added, however, that Hungary had not received much international assistance so far.
The state secretary expressed hope that the “Brussels bureaucracy” or other world leaders would recognise the need to assist Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia in their efforts to help refugees.
According to earlier information from the European Commission, the pre-financing for Hungary amounts to about 300 million euros, or about 100 billion forints.
Featured photo by Noémi Bruzák/MTI
