Dispute over migration rolls on

A pro-government commentator accuses western business elites of advocating mass immigration in the hope that this will yield them lucrative contracts. A critic of the government, on the other hand, fears that harsh anti-immigrant propaganda might foment hatred in Hungary.

In Magyar Idők, András Rácz  connects the pro-immigration politics of some Western European governments to business interests. The pro-government writer quotes left-wing economists including Thomas Piketty who have shown that increased public spending favours large multinational companies. After devastating crises, he explains, plutocrats are offered lucrative contracts as part of reconstruction. As mass migration is akin to natural catastrophes and wars, the mass influx of migrants will create a humanitarian emergency that governments can only resolve by involving large companies. While plutocrats and Western governments see an economic opportunity in mass migration, voters in Eastern Europe have grown to see it as an ‘existential threat’, Rácz adds. Eastern Europeans have understood that the money needed to support migrants will be taken away from intra-EU redistribution, and integrated migrants will take away jobs mostly from Eastern European workers, he concludes.

Magyar Nemzet’s László B. Molnár accuses the government of conducting a sickening anti-immigrant propaganda. He sees the anti-immigrant and anti-Soros billboard campaign as fomenting fear and inciting hatred and even violence. Molnár recalls anecdotes that suggest a rise in anti-immigrant fears and the population’s ensuing willingness to resort to violence (see BudaPost October 2). In an aside, he acknowledges that hateful propaganda is present on the Left too, mentioning as an example former PM Gyurcsány’s proposal to abolish non-resident Hungarian’s voting rights (see BudaPost November 13). Molnár wonders whether such hateful language will poison the minds of young Hungarians.

Tags: migration