Unlike in 2015, Hungary warmly welcomes Ukrainian refugees

Bowls of hot goulash, offers of accommodation or just a word of consolation: Hungarians rushed to the border with Ukraine over the weekend to offer support to refugees forced to flee their homes by the Russian invasion.

Even the populist Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, known for his anti-immigration policies, went to the border and relaxed the country's very strict asylum rules.

It's a "moral duty," said Janos Molnar, who is waiting at a border crossing in Tizabeks with a banner in Ukrainian stating that he is offering accommodation "to those people who lived through hell."

"I have three empty rooms in my house," he explains.

The 50-year-old did not have to wait long. It will host a group of Ukrainians who arrived in Hungary from the eastern part of the country.

"The journey was horrible," said Jacob Sonder Sirgba, who arrived in Hungary from Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, where clashes are raging.

"We will go to any country that is willing to receive us," added the 39-year-old Nigerian on behalf of his Ukrainian wife and one-year-old daughter.

"Humanity"

According to police figures, more than 70.000 people have entered Hungary since the start of the Russian invasion on Thursday.

The Hungarians mobilized very quickly, as did humanitarian organizations and the authorities of the border towns.

Zoltan Hayashi is a courier who founded the Budapest Bike Maffia.

"We appealed for donations," explains the 46-year-old. Within a few hours thousands of Hungarians brought canned food, basic necessities, mattresses. "They really wanted to help and they did not just send money."

He and a colleague loaded them into a van and headed for Zahoni, one of the main points from which Ukrainian refugees enter Hungary.

The truck is driven by Attila Azzodi, a 44-year-old businessman, who immediately offered his services when he saw the ad on the internet.

"We have to show humanity, this war reminds us that we can all become refugees overnight," he said.

The mayor of the city participates in the collective efforts: he turned the cultural center of Zahoni into a makeshift refugee camp by installing 300 beds there.

A friend in Hungary

This mobilization is reminiscent of the help offered by the Hungarians to the refugees from the Middle East and Africa who arrived in their country in 2015.

Some of the refugees were trapped at a train station in Budapest and survived only thanks to the help of humanitarian organizations.

At the time, Viktor Orban had erected barbed wire on his country's borders with Serbia and Croatia to prevent refugees from entering.

This time, however, he opened the doors of his country by expressing his "unity" with Brussels, with which he has come into conflict over immigration.

His government has agreed to offer temporary protection to newcomers, taking a completely different approach to Ukrainians than other refugees who have to apply for asylum in "transit areas".

"Everyone who leaves Ukraine will find a friend in Hungary," Orban vowed.

The EU plans to give Ukrainians the right to stay for up to 3 years 

The European Union is preparing to provide Ukrainians trying to escape the war with the right to stay and work in the European Union, high-ranking officials from France and the European Union have said.

At least 300.000 Ukrainian refugees have entered the EU so far and the Union needs to prepare for millions more, officials said. Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary, EU member states, have land borders with Ukraine.

"It's our duty to accept those who are leaving the war," French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanen told France 2 television today, adding that EU interior ministers had instructed the Commission yesterday to prepare proposals to protect them. people.

The ministers will meet again on Thursday to agree on the details.

The EU Temporary Protection Directive, which was drafted after the 1990s war in the Balkans but has not been used so far, offers the same level of protection for one to three years in all EU Member States, including a residence permit. , access to work, social welfare and medical coverage.

European Home Affairs Commissioner Ilva Johansson said most ministers had voiced support for the move yesterday, with some questioning whether it was the right time or whether the EU should wait a bit. concerns the whole of the EU.

"We are already seeing a lot of Ukrainians leave the countries of first entry and go to other member states, especially those that already have a large Ukrainian population," she told a news conference yesterday. "Poland is one of them but also Italy, Portugal, Spain, Germany and the Czech Republic."

"All member states are ready to accept refugees from Ukraine," said German Interior Minister Nancy Feser. "There is a strong response from Europe to the terrible suffering that Putin is causing with his criminal war of aggression: Together, we stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine."

Citing UN estimates, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Janes Lenarcic said 4 million Ukrainians were expected to flee the country as refugees.

With men of conscription age unable to leave Ukraine, there are more women and children arriving at the borders with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.

Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ- AFP