The Hungarian government is so concerned about the number of young Hungarians leaving the country that it is offering to fly them home and pay them to stay.
“Come home, young person!” is a new program aimed at persuading Hungarians living abroad to return to their home country. A Hungarian government event in London on June 28 to promote the program touted its promise of a free return flight, a 100,000 forint monthly allowance (about $350) for a year, and the possibility of a job close to family, Hungary Today reports.
Szabolcs Pakozdi, managing director of Hungary’s job placement office, stressed to the audience that participants were not obligated to work in the country for a specific period of time.
The Hungarian Central Statistics Office estimates that 31,500 Hungarians left the country in 2014, a 46% increase over 2013, Reuters reports. In total, there are thought to be 350,000 Hungarians working abroad, most of them young singles. Many profess to be uncomfortable with the country’s abrupt political shift to the right under Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
In response, former street artist Gergo Kovacs ran a successful crowdfunding campaign the first week of July to put up enormous posters around the country. “If you come to Hungary,” read one, “Could you please bring a sane Prime Minister?”
See Migrants Make Their Way From Serbia to Hungary
Afghan migrants trek their way to the Serbian border with Hungary close to Hajdukovo, 90 miles north of Belgrade, Serbia on Feb. 17, 2015,Marko Drobnjakovic—APA watchtower left over from the Cold War era is seen meters away from the Serbian border with Hungary close to Kelebija, 90 miles north of Belgrade, Serbia on Feb. 26, 2015, Marko Drobnjakovic—APMigrants rest in the makeshift camp near the abandoned brick factory in the northern Serbian town of Subotica, near the border between Serbia and Hungary, on Dec. 15, 2014, Darko Vojinovic—APMigrants from Afghanistan rest at an abandoned house on the outskirts of Subotica, 90 miles north of Belgrade, Serbia on Feb. 26, 2015, Marko Drobnjakovic—APA graffiti in Arabic letters is seen on a wall of an abandoned factory used as a resting point by migrants on the outskirts of Subotica, 90 miles north of Belgrade, Serbia on Feb. 26, 2015.Marko Drobnjakovic—APMigrants gather around the fire which they use for cooking and for warmth in the abandoned brick factory in the northern Serbian town of Subotica, near the border between Serbia and Hungary, on Dec. 15, 2014.Darko Vojinovic—APMembers of the German border police sit in a van as they check a security camera while monitoring a stretch of the Serbian border with Hungary in the village of Hajdukovo, some 110 miles north of Belgrade, Serbia on Feb. 13, 2015. Darko Vojinovic—APMigrants are detained by a Hungarian civil guard after being caught on the Hungarian-Serbian border near Roszke, south of Szeged, 100 miles south of Budapest, Hungary on Jan. 19, 2015. Szilard Koszticsa—EPAA migrant detained by the Hungarian police after illegally crossing the border with Serbia peers out of a window of a police bus in Asotthalom, some 110 miles southeast of Budapest, Hungary, on Feb. 18, 2015.Marko Drobnjakovic—APDiscarded children's clothes are seen laying in a field meters away from the Serbian border with Hungary close to Horgos, 90 miles north of Belgrade, Serbia on Feb. 26, 2015.Marko Drobnjakovic—APMigrants, who said they were from Afghanistan, sit on a ground after being apprehended by the Serbian border police for having illegally entered the country from Macedonia, near the town of Presevo some 240 miles from capital Belgrade, Serbia on April 29, 2015. Marko Djurica—ReutersMigrants sleep in a park near the main Belgrade's bus and train station, Serbia on April 24, 2015. Marko Djurica—Reuters
