The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) is submitting a proposal to parliament on scrapping Hungarian and EU employment subsidies for companies with non-EU workers, the leftist party’s deputy parliamentary group leader told a press conference on Wednesday.
Hungary has become a target country for workers from outside the EU, mainly from Ukraine, Gergely Arató said.
Responding to a written question from DK lawmaker Lajos Oláh, the government admitted to having granted work permits for over 26,000 non-EU workers over the past three years, Arato said.
DK proposes subsidising companies that aid the employment of EU citizens instead, in line with EU law recommendations, he said.
Gábor Nemes, DK’s specialist in employment affairs, said that the government was trying to remedy the workforce shortage by importing “tens of thousands of non-EU citizens, mainly Ukrainians”, which keeps wages low, he said.