Local Self-Governments in Dealing with Mass Migrations and Integration of Migrants in Hungary

In Hungary migration is an issue almost exclusively and entirely managed by the central government through its agencies. The policy on migration and its implementation are decisively handled by the government. The legal background is arranged through legislation that serves political purposes: a coherent system of new legislative acts and decrees were passed, and others were modified. The implementation of this disposition is realized by authorities directly controlled by the government, including the decisions made on requests for asylum, other types of recognition, or for subsidies. In this centralized system, not much is left to do for local self-governments. Legislation deprived local self-governments of the possible instruments that would serve the management of migration. The decision makers of local self-governments are strongly influenced by the central political guidelines, as well as by the local population. Thus, the issue of supporting the integration of migrants by Hungarian local self-governments is very difficult to examine.