Former Macedonian PM seeks asylum in Hungary
November 17th, 2018A left-wing commentator accuses the Hungarian government of showing more sympathy towards Macedonian ex-PM Nikola Gruevski, who fled a prison sentence for corruption, and is seeking asylum in Hungary, than towards refugees escaping war.
Macedonia’s former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has fled to Hungary and filed for political asylum on the grounds that he has received numerous death threats. Mr. Gruevski was sentenced to two-years in prison in Macedonia for corruption in May this year. He said his stay in Hungary is only temporary, while he finds a country where he can settle. The Hungarian government dismissed allegations that it helped Mr. Gruevski escape Macedonia.
In Népszava, Gábor Horváth thinks that Mr. Gruevski should be extradited to Macedonia if the Hungarian authorities believe that the rule of law prevails there. If they decide it doesn’t, they can reject the extradition request. Horváth identifies the rule of law with the notion of a safe country and therefore considers that if Mr. Gruevski is not extradited, one must conclude that the Hungarian authorities do not consider Macedonia a safe country. In that case, he argues, the asylum seekers coming to Hungary through Macedonia should not be sent back there. He implicitly predicts that Mr. Gruevski will be allowed to stay in Hungary, as in his concluding remark he lambasts the government for “rejecting war refugees while giving shelter to a corrupt and authoritarian politician from the Balkans”.