Hungarians are still overwhelmingly against allowing migrants to enter Europe illegally, according to a survey by the Századvég Foundation released on Tuesday. Fully 90% of Századvég’s sample of 2,004 adults said they opposed illegal migration. The survey was conducted between June 20 and 30.
A quarter of respondents said either they themselves or a close relative of theirs have had personal encounters with “irregular migrants”. Around three-fourths of those who had encountered migrants described their experience as negative with 10% of them saying they had been harassed by migrants. The survey also revealed that most Hungarians rely on Hungarian-language media in keeping up with the migration situation while one-sixth of respondents said they also get news from foreign media.
Fully 71% of respondents rejected the European Union’s proposal to automatically redistribute asylum seekers among member states. A total of 56% said they were optimistic about the effectiveness of EU aid going to the migrants’ countries of origin and EU transit countries. However, 86% of these respondents said the distribution of aid requires proper international cooperation and oversight.