The Commissioner's visit in June is the first step in the direction of Brussels assuming a greater role in our border protection costs - this is how Mihály Varga announced that the Commissioner responsible for budgetary and administrative affairs of the European Commission is traveling to Hungary at his invitation.

The Minister of Finance has carried out his plan, Johannes Hahn will see the southern border fence with his own eyes.

"It is starting to be embarrassing in Brussels that Hungary finances the protection of the common EU border with its own money" -

this is how Mihály Varga assessed to the Index that Johannes Hahn, the EU budget commissioner, accepted his invitation and is visiting the southern border.

The story goes back to December, when Finance Minister Mihály Varga wrote an official letter to Johannes Hahn, the European Commission's Commissioner for Budgetary and Administrative Affairs.

The essence of the legislative idea was that the member states located at the external borders of the community provide for the protection of the borders from common funding"

said the letter.

The head of the ministry highlighted:

THE MIGRATION CRISIS HAS NOW RESULTED IN A SITUATION IN WHICH THIS INTENT IS NOT COMPLETELY FULFILLED.

Since 2015, Hungary has thwarted approximately 1 million illegal border crossings in the southern, Schengen border section of the country. The migratory pressure is increasing, this year alone the Hungarian border guards took action against 100,000 illegal migrants.

Mihály Varga achieved what he wanted

All this puts an increasing burden on the national budget: while from the outbreak of the migration crisis to the writing of Varga's previous letter (roughly until last December), Hungary spent more than 1.6 billion euros on border protection, the EU contribution to these costs barely exceeds one percent, he called Mihály Varga regularly draws attention to this.

After that, the Minister of Finance decided in December to write to the EU Budget Commissioner with the intention of having the European Union contribute more to Hungary's border protection costs.

Mihály Varga has now announced that the EU Budget Commissioner has finally accepted his invitation and is visiting Hungary.

The meeting can take place in the second half of June.

"Hungary has set up the most effective border protection in the European Union at the southern border, our expenses for this exceed HUF 700 billion - while the level of the EU contribution is only a few percent of this"

- summed up Mihály Varga.

According to the Minister of Finance, the budget commissioner's visit in June is the first step in the direction of Brussels assuming a greater role in our border protection costs.

The Hungarian position is clear: it is absurd and impossible for our country to be punished with HUF 6 million a day for protecting Europe and not accepting migrants. On the contrary: instead of a penalty, we expect a fair and proportionate contribution to border protection costs, and I will represent this at the hearing as well

- said the finance minister.

It is also worth recalling that on Thursday, Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office, said that the EU would fine Hungary 6 million forints per day due to the legal border closure. In this regard, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday: this is a fact.

The prime minister stated: the European Court of Justice has made its decision, and it says that after Hungary refuses to accept migrants, we must pay HUF 6 million per day to Brussels.

Which in itself is blood-curdling, so it's not simply outrageous, it's blood-curdling that anyone would come to tell the Hungarians who should be allowed in here. I cannot imagine a player in world politics who would have the right to tell the Hungarians that, dear Hungarians, you do not say who can enter the territory of your country, but we will. This is impossible, absurd, impossible!

Then Viktor Orbán emphasized: "not only do we have to deal with migrants, but Hungary is also being shot in the back from Brussels, and it would not

not a single penny for the fact that we also protect them, but they take HUF 6 million a day out of our pockets because we do not allow migrants to enter Hungary. So the whole situation is an impossibility as it is."

A significant budget burden

As we mentioned above, from the outbreak of the migration crisis until the end of last year, the Hungarian government spent roughly 1.6 billion euros on border protection, to which the EU contributed less than 1 percent. At the current exchange rate, this means HUF 620 billion.

Dániel Molnár, an analyst at the Makronóm Institute, stated in this regard: this is definitely a significant amount.

"Comparatively, if the European Union were to provide half of the above amount afterwards, it would mean more income than the government expects this year from payments from financial organizations, small business tax or trade tax, while on the expenditure side, this year's appropriation of HUF 227 billion for babysitting support can be highlighted. as a benchmark"

- highlighted the analyst.

In other words, the European Commission owes Hungary a significant amount due to border protection.

Another comparison is worth making: in the 2021-2027 EU budget cycle, Hungary would receive around 43 billion euros. The 1.6 billion euros declared by the Minister of Finance Mihály Varga thus represents nearly 4 percent of that amount, while if we only compare it to the cohesion resources promoting catch-up, it is more than 7 percent of that amount.

Within the budget, the government is free to regroup the various amounts of money, there are very few restricted items.

"From this point of view, the ex post EU reimbursement of border protection would represent a meaningful income in the budget. This would allow the deficit to be mitigated, which would enable a faster reduction of the national debt, and further support for economic growth could also be realized from it"

- summed up Dániel Molnár.

Featured image: MTI/EPA/Olivier Hoslet