The European Union member states failed to agree on quotas for accepting refugees<\/em><\/p>
First and alone – contrary to all European agreements on refugees adopted in Dublin and still in effect – Hungary decided to close its borders to refugees. 'The country is full' – with this phrase from Zoltán Kovács, press secretary of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an open confrontation between Hungary and the European Union began, implying a complete refusal to accept refugees for an indefinite period. The unilateral decision of the Eastern European state provoked indignation among the authorities of most neighboring countries, who demanded explanations: such a démarche is not provided for by the Dublin agreements, functionaries and politicians noted. However, in the end, the unyielding Hungarian position led to the EU's complete rejection of the planned quota system.<\/p>
According to the European Union's statistical office Eurostat, the total number of refugees accepted in Europe in 2014 was 626,065 people. This figure indicates the number of people who legally entered the continent and applied for the first time for political asylum to the competent local authorities. In Hungary, 42,775 applications were filed, in Germany over the same period – 202,645, significantly more than in any other EU member state.<\/p>
In the same 2014, Hungary made 5,445 decisions on granting asylum, 4,935 of them were rejected and only 510 were positive: with a quota of only 9% of approved applications, Hungary is the most hostile country in the European Union towards political asylum seekers. In Germany, 40% of applications are approved, the country accepted 40,560 refugees in 2014 – again the most in Europe and the European Union.<\/p>
The statistics would look slightly different if we calculate the number of officially filed political asylum applications per capita of a given country. According to this 'immigration coefficient' in 2014, Sweden is the undisputed leader among all European states: 8.4 asylum applications per thousand inhabitants. Second on the list is Hungary, where 4.3 refugees officially asked for help per thousand inhabitants, third is Austria with 3.3 applications, fourth is Malta with three applications per thousand inhabitants. Germany with 2.5 applications per thousand inhabitants is surpassed by non-EU Switzerland (2.9) and Norway (2.6), as well as Denmark (2.6 asylum applications per thousand local population).<\/p>
As 'Russkaya Germaniya' notes, these are just official figures that do not take into account uncontrolled flows of illegal immigrants and, accordingly, poorly reflect reality. According to the Hungarian government, in 2015 about 60 thousand illegal migrants crossed the country's borders.<\/p>
The unilateral refusal to accept refugees was preceded by another high-profile step by the right-conservative Hungarian authorities: Hungary's Interior Minister Sándor Pintér announced the intention to build a four-meter-high wall along the border with Serbia, from whose territory the largest number of illegal migrants enter the country, and thus the European Union. The majority of them, as among those legally applying for political asylum, are refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>
The Dublin agreements stipulate that refugees must apply for political asylum in the first EU country in whose territory they find themselves. However, EU representatives failed to agree on refugee quotas at an emergency summit in Brussels: the main wave of resistance came from Eastern Europe. The outraged Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had to be calmed down by the entire European Union: the politician accused his uncooperative colleagues of selfishness, saying they 'do not deserve to be called Europe. If this is your European idea, you can keep it to yourselves. Show solidarity or don't waste our time.' The colleagues in turn complained about 'different understandings of solidarity,' 'a deplorable result,' and 'a meeting that achieved nothing.'<\/p>
In the end, the heads of state and government of the European Union merely confirmed their intention to 'on a voluntary basis' take care of 60 thousand new refugees who arrived in southern Europe by various routes – primarily the Mediterranean. Forty thousand of them will be relocated to other countries – including 8 thousand to Germany, and 20 thousand are to settle in Italy and Greece.<\/p>