Repatriation and support of compatriots abroad: the experience of the Republic of Hungary

Nesterchuk Ol'ga Alekseevna ORCID: 0000-0002-8776-2694 Doctor of Politics Professor; Department of Political Science and Political Management; Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Professor; Department of Public Policy and History of State and Law; Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 82 Vernadsky Ave., Moscow, 119571, Russia nesterchuk68@mail.ru

Dubrovina Ol'ga Vasil'evna Doctor of Politics Professor; Department of Political Science and Political Management; Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration 82 Vernadsky Ave., Moscow, 119571, Russia dubrovinaov@list.ru

Migration of the population is a complex complex phenomenon that affects the economic and social development of both the countries of reception of migrants and their exodus. The migration policy of the state is becoming one of the most pressing issues on the modern political agenda, a factor affecting political stability not only regionally but also globally.

Repatriation processes can be considered as one of the types of population migration, i.e. the processes of returning persons to the States where they were previously born or their ancestors lived. Repatriates decide to return to their historical homeland due to various circumstances: the desire to reunite with their family; the desire to live in a state with impressive and close traditions, mentality and culture; due to the unstable political situation and difficult socio-economic conditions in the place of former residence; unfavorable environmental and climatic conditions; as well as due to harassment and discrimination on racial, ethnic, and religious grounds ^[13].

It is important to note that the repatriation process is voluntary; certain legal acts oblige all public authorities of the host country to release repatriates from it, and the countries of origin, in turn, must guarantee the acceptance of their citizens back.

As a rule, the term "repatriates" refers to persons who, for reasons of an economic, social or personal nature, voluntarily resettled in the country of their citizenship or origin for the purpose of permanent residence ^[5]. But some researchers, for example, G. Lados and G. Hegedus, use the term "remigration" instead of the concept of "repatriation" ^[14].

Taking into account that modern Russia continues to be in a rather serious demographic crisis, issues of population reproduction and human capital development are becoming an increasingly relevant area of scientific research in the field of migration and demography, which requires recourse to certain foreign practices demonstrating a sufficiently high level of efficiency, primarily in the field of repatriation of compatriots ^[4],[9].

One of the states successfully implementing the practice of repatriation (re-emigration) is the Republic of Hungary, the analysis of whose resettlement policy is devoted to a number of scientific studies ^{[2],[7],[8],[11]}.

However, despite the available works devoted to both the migration policy of the Republic of Hungary in general and resettlement policy in particular, the aspect devoted to the political and legal aspect of public administration, the national legislation of Hungary in terms of the formation and development of repatriation practices, interaction in this area of government institutions and civil society remains insufficiently studied.

Currently, repatriation processes have intensified in Eastern European countries, including the Republic of Hungary. Many migrants from this subregion have decided to return to their home countries due to the desire to be close to their families, as well as due to socio-economic reasons – unemployment and lack of adequate social protection in other States. The Hungarian Government actively encourages the policy of repatriation (re-emigration), which remains relevant for many Hungarians living in other countries (about 4 million people). At the same time, it should be noted that currently about 10 million Hungarians live in Hungary itself, as evidenced by the data of the Database Earth organization.

Speaking about compatriots living abroad, Hungarian migration policy highlights the priority of protecting the interests and maintaining the well-being of Hungarian migrants outside the country. Accordingly, the protection of the rights of ethnic Hungarians in foreign countries is one of the dominant directions of both Hungary's foreign and domestic policy. It is important to note that the state, on the one hand, contributes to the preservation and maintenance of the ethnocultural identity of the Hungarian diaspora in neighboring countries, and, on the other, stimulates active involvement in the political, social and economic processes of the states of which they are citizens.

The reasons for the repatriation policy listed above are characteristic of modern Hungary due to a special approach to the state's migration policy, which does not provide for solving demographic, social and economic problems using mechanisms of replacement migration, i.e. attracting migrants who are not ethnic Hungarians ^[3].

The key provisions concerning the support of ethnic Hungarians living outside the country are reflected in the Strategy of Hungarian Communities Abroad (adopted in 2011), one of the important goals of which is to create Hungarian autonomous communities abroad and ensure their well-being and stability ^[6]. The Hungarian Government is striving to ensure that there are more and more such communities every year. Another goal is to support the cultural and intellectual development of ethnic Hungarians within communities, as well as ensure their prosperity. In order to effectively implement these goals, the Hungarian Government established the Hungarian Diaspora Council in 2011. Another important institution responsible for working with compatriots abroad is the State Secretariat for Work with Hungarian Communities Abroad, established in 2011 and subordinated to the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice ^[12].

An important area of Hungary's policy towards foreign compatriots is to provide them with material support. Thus, in 2000, the Bethlen Gabor State Fund was established, designed to provide financial support to ethnic Hungarians abroad. This organization is engaged in the payment of benefits for various needs, financing the activities of the Research Institute of Hungarian Communities Abroad (the institute examines the state of Hungarian communities abroad and, based on the results obtained, helps the Hungarian government to develop appropriate policies), as well as cooperation with the cultural and educational center "House of Hungarians". The organization provides financial resources for the implementation of various projects: in 2015, the fund allocated 160 million euros for various projects in Vojvodina. Also, in the period from 2011 to 2018, the Foundation provided financial support to Transcarpathian Hungarians in the amount of 55 million dollars, of which 27 million was received by the Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute named after Ferenc Rakoczy II, the organization provided 5 million dollars to the Society of Hungarian Culture of Transcarpathia ^[12].

In Hungary, repatriation is regulated by several legislative acts. Thus, in the new Constitution of Hungary dated 01.01.2012, article D states that "Hungary, taking into account the unity of the Hungarian nation, must be responsible for the fate of Hungarians living outside its borders; must contribute to the survival and development of communities of foreign Hungarians; and must also support their intentions and aspirations aimed at preserving Hungarian identity and culture the establishment of individual and collective rights, the creation of communal self-government, prosperity in their native lands; the country also undertakes to promote cooperation between Hungarians with each other and with Hungary."

In January 2002, the Law "On Hungarians Living in Neighboring Countries" came into force in Hungary. The first article of the Law stipulates that its effect applies to persons who are not citizens of Hungary (it is noted that such persons have lost Hungarian citizenship not due to voluntary refusal, as well as these persons do not have a permanent residence permit in the state), but at the same time declared their belonging to the Hungarian nation and living in The Republic of Croatia, the territory of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Romania, the Republic of Slovenia, the Slovak Republic, and Ukraine (the law also applies to the spouses of these persons and their minor children, even if they are not ethnic Hungarians). In accordance with this law, the persons listed in the first article have the right to receive benefits and other support on the territory of Hungary and in their places of residence in neighboring countries. For example, preferences include free access to libraries (article 4); the provision of State scholarships (article 6); preferential travel on public transport (article 8); the right to use public cultural institutions (article 4); support for foreign organizations acting in the interests of Hungarian national communities (article 18).

In addition, it is important to note that the procedure for obtaining citizenship, as well as repatriation, is regulated by the Law "On Citizenship", adopted in 1993. This law is based on the principle of the right of blood, that is, in order to obtain the status of a citizen, it is necessary to inherit it from a blood relative. However, Hungarian citizenship can also be obtained by naturalization, for which a foreigner needs to live continuously in Hungary for 8 years, pass a test on the basics of the Hungarian constitution, have no criminal record, and also have financially stable means of livelihood. But if certain conditions prescribed in the law are met, the residence permit can be reduced from 8 to 3 years. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that the fact of the birth of a child by foreigners in Hungary is not a condition for automatic citizenship (exceptions include children born to unknown parents or born stateless).

At the legislative level, the legality of the repatriation procedure is determined by paragraph 5 of the Hungarian Law "On Citizenship". A repatriate in Hungary is a person who previously had a Hungarian passport, but subsequently lost it and wants to restore it. In addition, repatriates include people whose parents, grandparents and other ancestors were Hungarian citizens. The repatriation program to Hungary provides for the provision of a Hungarian passport to persons whose ancestors had citizenship in previous years. This fact must be confirmed by appropriate documents that prove that the applicant or one of his parents was born in Hungary; the applicant or at least one of his parents (or other relatives) ever had a Hungarian passport; the Hungarian citizenship of the applicant's parents was confirmed earlier.

Therefore, in order to apply for Hungarian citizenship, it is necessary to provide documents confirming Hungarian roots (own birth certificate; birth certificates of parents, grandparents, great-grandmothers and other ancestors; marriage certificate of parents or other ancestors; any other official Hungarian documentation that confirms Hungarian origin); prepare for the Hungarian exam the language for its successful completion; contact the embassy and arrange the date of the interview; pass the interview and submit the required documents; take the oath; and then get a passport of a Hungarian citizen. It is important to emphasize that ethnic Hungarians who have obtained Hungarian citizenship do not necessarily have to move to the country and then live on its territory, they have the right to remain in their current country of residence, but at the same time have dual citizenship.

Also, the Law "On Citizenship" provides for a simplified form of naturalization, which is called a declaration. Through the declaration, Hungarian citizenship can be obtained by persons who lost their citizenship due to emigration between September 15, 1947 and May 2, 1990; persons who do not have citizenship, but were born in Hungary, lived in the country for 5 years before applying and under the age of 19; persons born to a mother of Hungarian origin and a father-a foreigner before October 1, 1957 and who did not receive citizenship by right of birth.

It is also worth noting that in May 2010, the Hungarian Parliament approved amendments to the Law "On Citizenship" (they came into force in early 2011). According to these amendments, every person who was a Hungarian citizen, or a descendant of a person who was a Hungarian citizen before 1920 or in the period from 1940 to 1945, can apply for Hungarian citizenship due to their Hungarian roots. All the above-mentioned legislative acts indicate that the Hungarian Government is interested in consolidating the ethnic group, strengthening the Hungarian identity and ensuring the well-being of Hungarians both inside and outside the state.

In general, it can be noted that both the political elite of Hungary and the representatives of the Hungarian ethnic group themselves are involved in the policy of repatriation, as well as in activities related to the support of compatriots abroad. Hungarians actively enjoy the privileges provided for by legislative acts acting in their interests. For example, within five years after the adoption of the Law "On Hungarians Living in Neighboring Countries", more than 800 thousand citizens of neighboring countries received a Hungarian certificate (in Russia, 130 thousand people received such a certificate). According to the simplified procedure of repatriation (as well as naturalization), which began to operate after amendments were made in 2010, more than 440 thousand people decided to restore citizenship; approximately 360 thousand people eventually received citizenship in a simplified manner, mostly Hungarians of Transylvania (data as of May 2012). As of January 1, 2019, more than 180 thousand Russian citizens applied to the Hungarian state authorities ^[1].

The impressive number of ethnic Hungarians who have received a Hungarian certificate, as well as Hungarian citizenship, testifies to the effectiveness and effectiveness of the Government's policy towards compatriots abroad. However, political activity aimed at attracting foreign compatriots to Hungary seems to be less productive, requires revision, and possibly the introduction of new initiatives. The Hungarian Government seeks to support compatriots abroad through various tools and programs rather than return ethnic Hungarians to the country where their ancestors previously lived, or themselves.

If we talk about the impact of the policy of repatriation and support for foreign compatriots on the Hungarian political system, it is worth noting that repatriation does not contribute to the destabilization of the situation in the country, since Hungarians have an extremely negative attitude towards refugees and migrants from Muslim countries (for example, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, African countries), and not to their compatriots. This trend clearly manifested itself after the migration crisis, when the priority direction of migration policy was the admission of only refugees and migrants of Hungarian origin to the country, which is confirmed by the study "Hungarians share Europe's embrace of democratic principles but are less tolerant of refugees, minorities" conducted by the Pew Research International Center in 2018, according to which 72% The interviewed Hungarians stated that it is necessary to reduce the number of refugees migrating to Hungary, or completely prohibit refugees from entering the country.

At the same time, it is worth noting that the policy of repatriation of ethnic Hungarians has a positive effect on the positions of the current Hungarian government and the ruling party, on the rhetoric and image of Viktor Orban, since many ethnic Hungarians abroad support acting political actors and demonstrate their loyalty to them, in particular, in exchange for preferences and obtaining citizenship under a simplified procedure ^[10].

So according to the poll "Will wooing the Hungarian diaspora tip the election in Orban's favor?" conducted by Euronews, 96.2% of representatives of the Hungarian diaspora abroad voted for the Fidesz party in the 2018 parliamentary elections, and in the previous elections in 2014, Fidesz received 95.4% of the votes of the Hungarian diaspora (in 2012, the Orban government granted the right to vote to Hungarians living abroad).

Summing up, it should be noted that the policy of repatriation and support for foreign compatriots pursued by Hungarian political actors should be assessed rather as effective, especially if we take into account statistical data from previous years (for example, analyze the trend of people of Hungarian origin returning to the country), but at the same time requiring revision, in-depth analysis, clear goal-setting, making adjustments so that demographic problems can be solved more effectively later, and ethnocultural identity continues to strengthen.