By Zoltán Dujisin
BUDAPEST, Nov 29 2006 (IPS)

In an embarrassing development for Hungary, Sweden has for the past weeks received a growing number of asylum applications from mostly ethnic Roma citizens who complain of discrimination in the fellow European Union (EU) member state.

Hungarian citizens are allowed to travel freely to Sweden without a visa.

The refugee-status seekers, mostly from the impoverished Hungarian southwestern region of Baranya, have been travelling on a daily basis with a Malmo-Budapest budget flight, and there are presently no signs of the trend dwindling.

Roma unemployment is high and long-term in the region. Many of the Roma blamed an intolerable domestic situation for their departure, claiming racial discrimination and difficulties in finding work. Such problems are all too common for them in this post-socialist country of 10 million.

Roma in Hungary constitute six percent of the population. They face discrimination in the education system and the labour market, and are often stuck in situations of poverty and long-term unemployment.

Roma are a minority group who are believed to have migrated to Europe from Asia since the 14th century.

Anti-Roma feelings in Hungary were recently revived when a handful of Roma suspects were accused of lynching a schoolteacher. The victim had been involved in a car accident shortly before that resulted in light injuries to a young Roma girl.

A number of officials, politicians and minority representatives have begun a campaign to convince the Roma to stay in Hungary, arguing that their poor language and working skills would not find a place in the competitive Swedish labour market.

The campaign has failed to deliver results thus far, and the Hungarian press has speculated that the true goal of the asylum seekers is to enjoy the benefits of the Swedish welfare system.

Hungarian media reports that many of the Roma have been seen travelling with children, claiming that this entitles them to additional benefits. None of them have given up their properties in Hungary, indicating their desire to return eventually, according to such reports.

Some see such media analysis of the situation with suspicion. “They enjoy inflaming these situations,” Claude Cahn, programmes director for the European Roma Rights Centre in Budapest told IPS. “The dominant trend is to assume these people rip off the system, and that if they are given asylum, people in the west are suckers.”

Cahn suspects nobody is looking deeply into the situation at hand. “Some of these people may be refugees for real,” he said. “It will be an important test as to whether the Swedish authorities can give them a fair procedure and handle their cases individually.”

Roma citizens from Hungary have managed to obtain refugee status before, albeit not in Sweden. “Hungarian Roma were granted asylum in Canada with a recognition rate of 30 percent,” Cahn told IPS.

But due to constrains deriving from EU membership, it seems unlikely Hungarian citizens could be granted asylum in Sweden. Already in October the Swedish government handled 27 asylum applications, with none of them going through.

But never before has Sweden been confronted with such a large number of EU citizens applying for asylum. Currently up to 300 cases are being processed, but the applications will likely be rejected as there is no legal basis for taking in refugees holding EU passports.

“The presumption is that they don’t have grounds for refugee status,” and unlike procedures involving non-EU citizens, which can take months, “their applications will be dealt with very quickly,” a Swedish migration official told IPS.

The Swedish official said the applicants will receive individual trials, though any answer other than a ‘no’ is highly unlikely.

“I would not exclude the possibility of racism, but our welfare system seems to be playing a large role,” said the official. “Someone has been spreading rumours that you would get money and a flat, some kind of welcome package, which is of course not true..”

However, there is a chance some of the applicants will get “a flight home for free”, and while their cases are being examined “accommodation and perhaps some subsistence money.”

The official suspects it is precisely the rumours on the easy availability of Swedish benefits that are motivating many to fly in every day seeking their fortune in the Scandinavian country.

“The Hungarian embassy is very concerned, and they are terribly embarrassed about the situation,” the official said.

In an attempt to counter the growing trend, Hungarian State Secretary Edit Rauch has announced that the government will offer rapid aid from next month to support the creation of temporary jobs in the Baranya region.

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