Read more: The new nationalism
When Hungary’s right-wing government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, began an anti-immigrant billboard campaign last summer—with slogans such as “If you come to Hungary, you mustn't take work away from Hungarians!”—it forgot to add the crucial line: but you’re welcome, as long as you have money.
According to the terms and conditions for Hungarian Residency Bonds (HRB)—a five-year government bond programme established by Orban’s Fidesz Party in 2013—an initial investment of €300,000 and a €60,000 processing fee is enough to buy a non-European Union citizen, and their family, Hungarian passports and access to the EU. Around 4,000 applications (not including family members) have already been processed up to July this year, according to PRLeap, with applicants hailing from China, Russia and the Gulf States. That figure is almost five times the number of migrants the EU proposed relocating to Hungary under its quota system last year, a policy the government challenges and on which the nation will hold a referendum on 2nd October.
As part of the Schengen Zone, Hungary has become the frontline of the EU’s migrant crisis since a record 137,000 crossed the Mediterranean into Europe in the first six months of 2015. Conflict-fleeing refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq have tried to enter Hungary in order to gain onward visa-free access to Northern Europe. Data from the UN refugee agency shows that just 146 of 177,135 applicants were granted asylum in Hungary last year. While Orban’s government has erected a 175-km razor-wire fence along the country’s southern border with Serbia, closed refugee centres and in July, began enforcing a law allowing the army to push refugees found in Hungary back over the border.
Orban justifies his policy with the fearmongering suggestion that migrants will dilute Hungary and Europe’s, “ethnic, cultural and religious identity.” In a late July press conference with Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern, he claimed immigration was “a poison.” “Hungary does not need a single migrant for the economy to work, or the population to sustain itself, or for the country to have a future," he said. “Every single migrant poses a public security and terror risk.”
These comments are contradicted by recent innovations which make the immigration-promoting HRBs even more accessible. Permanent stay permits are now available within two months, down from eight to nine months, and allow wider eligibility for bond holders’ dependents (parents, grown-up children) to gain citizenship, making it one of the easiest and most cost-effective European residency bond programs for non-EU citizens.
The bonds are also open to anyone, regardless of ethnicity, culture or religion, with one broker, Arton Hungary Capital, dealing exclusively with Muslim-majority nations including Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Yemen. The website of European Bond Program Management, which advertises the product, explicitly markets them at the refugees Orban says he is attempting to excluded from the country: "Another group of potential applicants are people who—due to the volatile safety [and] security situation in the Middle East & Africa—feel the need to put in place alternative plans,” it says. “...[E]nabling them to provide a safe haven for their families…”
Orban’s public xenophobic stance may be simply a political strategy to appeal to voters who are warming to the resurgent ultra-conservative Jobbik Party. Fidesz’s assault on all things foreign continues. Last month one of its MEPs suggested on Twitter that pigs’ heads should be hung on the nation’s southern border fence, which Orban now seeks to fortify, to deter Muslim refugees. However, encouraging anti-immigrant sentiment may not be sufficient to bolster Fidesz’s support amid accusations of authoritarian-style leadership and corruption.
In June 2015 a research note from the Corruption Research Center in Budapest (CRCB) suggested that the HRB programme is likely to be a government vehicle to obtain leverage with wealthy international investors by granting them access to the EU.
The HRB brokers, which are predominantly offshore entities, fall outside the Hungarian National Bank’s regulatory remit, have dubious ties to foreign businessmen and were seemingly self-selected by Antal Rogan, currently Orban’s Minister of the Cabinet Office. These intermediaries—registered in tax havens such as Malta, Cyprus and the Cayman Islands—have been able to divert millions from the state, and Hungarian taxpayer, by cashing in on the processing fee and revenue from buying the bonds at a discount from the government. Officials have remained silent on the HRB’s numerous peculiarities.
“The residence bond legislation is an example of the violation of the rule of law, of its connection with rent-seeking, and of possible appearance of political corruption,” the CRCB said in its study. “The bill was passed without public consultation, nor was an economic or social impact assessment carried out.”
The latest opinion polls show 70 per cent are likely to vote “No” in October’s referendum on the question: “Do you want the EU to be able to mandate the obligatory resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens into Hungary even without the approval of the National Assembly.” Perhaps the government should also ask the Hungarian public what it thinks of the opaque scheme for selling Hungarian citizenship.
When Hungary’s right-wing government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, began an anti-immigrant billboard campaign last summer—with slogans such as “If you come to Hungary, you mustn't take work away from Hungarians!”—it forgot to add the crucial line: but you’re welcome, as long as you have money.
According to the terms and conditions for Hungarian Residency Bonds (HRB)—a five-year government bond programme established by Orban’s Fidesz Party in 2013—an initial investment of €300,000 and a €60,000 processing fee is enough to buy a non-European Union citizen, and their family, Hungarian passports and access to the EU. Around 4,000 applications (not including family members) have already been processed up to July this year, according to PRLeap, with applicants hailing from China, Russia and the Gulf States. That figure is almost five times the number of migrants the EU proposed relocating to Hungary under its quota system last year, a policy the government challenges and on which the nation will hold a referendum on 2nd October.
As part of the Schengen Zone, Hungary has become the frontline of the EU’s migrant crisis since a record 137,000 crossed the Mediterranean into Europe in the first six months of 2015. Conflict-fleeing refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq have tried to enter Hungary in order to gain onward visa-free access to Northern Europe. Data from the UN refugee agency shows that just 146 of 177,135 applicants were granted asylum in Hungary last year. While Orban’s government has erected a 175-km razor-wire fence along the country’s southern border with Serbia, closed refugee centres and in July, began enforcing a law allowing the army to push refugees found in Hungary back over the border.
Orban justifies his policy with the fearmongering suggestion that migrants will dilute Hungary and Europe’s, “ethnic, cultural and religious identity.” In a late July press conference with Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern, he claimed immigration was “a poison.” “Hungary does not need a single migrant for the economy to work, or the population to sustain itself, or for the country to have a future," he said. “Every single migrant poses a public security and terror risk.”
These comments are contradicted by recent innovations which make the immigration-promoting HRBs even more accessible. Permanent stay permits are now available within two months, down from eight to nine months, and allow wider eligibility for bond holders’ dependents (parents, grown-up children) to gain citizenship, making it one of the easiest and most cost-effective European residency bond programs for non-EU citizens.
The bonds are also open to anyone, regardless of ethnicity, culture or religion, with one broker, Arton Hungary Capital, dealing exclusively with Muslim-majority nations including Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Yemen. The website of European Bond Program Management, which advertises the product, explicitly markets them at the refugees Orban says he is attempting to excluded from the country: "Another group of potential applicants are people who—due to the volatile safety [and] security situation in the Middle East & Africa—feel the need to put in place alternative plans,” it says. “...[E]nabling them to provide a safe haven for their families…”
Orban’s public xenophobic stance may be simply a political strategy to appeal to voters who are warming to the resurgent ultra-conservative Jobbik Party. Fidesz’s assault on all things foreign continues. Last month one of its MEPs suggested on Twitter that pigs’ heads should be hung on the nation’s southern border fence, which Orban now seeks to fortify, to deter Muslim refugees. However, encouraging anti-immigrant sentiment may not be sufficient to bolster Fidesz’s support amid accusations of authoritarian-style leadership and corruption.
In June 2015 a research note from the Corruption Research Center in Budapest (CRCB) suggested that the HRB programme is likely to be a government vehicle to obtain leverage with wealthy international investors by granting them access to the EU.
The HRB brokers, which are predominantly offshore entities, fall outside the Hungarian National Bank’s regulatory remit, have dubious ties to foreign businessmen and were seemingly self-selected by Antal Rogan, currently Orban’s Minister of the Cabinet Office. These intermediaries—registered in tax havens such as Malta, Cyprus and the Cayman Islands—have been able to divert millions from the state, and Hungarian taxpayer, by cashing in on the processing fee and revenue from buying the bonds at a discount from the government. Officials have remained silent on the HRB’s numerous peculiarities.
“The residence bond legislation is an example of the violation of the rule of law, of its connection with rent-seeking, and of possible appearance of political corruption,” the CRCB said in its study. “The bill was passed without public consultation, nor was an economic or social impact assessment carried out.”
The latest opinion polls show 70 per cent are likely to vote “No” in October’s referendum on the question: “Do you want the EU to be able to mandate the obligatory resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens into Hungary even without the approval of the National Assembly.” Perhaps the government should also ask the Hungarian public what it thinks of the opaque scheme for selling Hungarian citizenship.
