‘Europeans moving to Hungary to escape Islam’

Europeans who emigrate to Hungary often do so to escape Islam, the Dutch Newspaper Trouw reported.

Also the pleasant climate together with a life without fear of Islam plays a role among many European immigrants.

Prime Minister Orban has welcomed all Europeans. Dutch, Germans, French and Italians moving to his country were warmly received in February, while “refugees” from the Middle East were not.

Trouw spoke with Dutch Jacqueline and Jeroen Bastiaensen about their move. They were first only looking for a holiday home, but discovered that they found Budapest safer than Amsterdam and decided to settle permanently.

Jaqueline believes that Orban is doing well and that, partly because of his policy, they do not have to be afraid of an attack. With the border fence he puts “the importance of Hungarians first”, according to Jaqueline.

The Bastiaensen family is pleased that more and more Dutch people have settled in their neighbourhood, also because they do not yet have a good command of the language. They say, they still sound “a bit like a Turk speaks Dutch”.

While Western Europe is struggling with terror attacks and Islamic radicalisation after the self-inflicted migrant crisis, Eastern European nations have rejected EU-imposed migrant quotas.

Western Europe’s governments have meanwhile tried to down-play a spike in crime: Germany, Belgium and Sweden are currently struggling to find ways to deal with the migrant wave.

According to the family at least three hundred Dutch and Belgians have bought houses near the town of Csemö. “All our neighbours are Dutch and it’s pleasant to have other Dutch people near us.”

Several estate agents have confirmed the experience of the family. Dutch estate agent Robert Kemers says that at least a thousand Belgians are currently living in Hungary and that since the start of the migrant crisis the number of inquiries have surged. “After every terror attack we see a spike in the number of website visits” he says.

Germans and Scandinavians also increasingly see Hungary as a safe haven within the European Union. “They come from Austria too” the estate agent noted.

According to a Belgian estate agent: “Two of my clients said that they were fleeing from refugees and that they needed a house in Hungary.”

German estate agent Ottmar Heide has had a similar experience: “Eight in ten people who call me say that they want to leave Germany because of its migrant policy.”

With the continuation of Europe’s migration crisis and the return of ISIS from Syria, it is to be expected that migration from Western Europe to Eastern Europe will continue.

While a growing group of conservatives have found refuge in Hungary, not all are welcome.

The 81-year-old German lawyer Horst Mahler has applied for political asylum in Hungary last May, but Hungary has rejected his application. He was once a lawyer for the left-wing extremist Red Army Faction, but has since embraced Holocaust denial.

Mahler was convicted in Germany, but was released because of his health. He then fled to Hungary, but the country promptly repatriated him to Germany.

There are also two British members of the British National Party “with paramilitary contacts and a criminal record” that were both deported. According to the Hungarian anti-terrorism unit TEK they presented a danger to national security.