The government is also responding to the attacks levelled against Hungary with video messages posted on the Internet, Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács said in posts published on Facebook and Twitter on Saturday.

“We would like to make it clear that we do not want to become an immigrant country”, Mr Kovács wrote.

On 12 September the European Parliament voted for the report compiled by Dutch member of the Greens Group of the European Parliament Judith Sargentini with respect to the state of the rule of law in Hungary. In the wake of this, a multi-stage procedure under Article 7 of the Treaties of the EU may be instituted against Hungary. This may eventually even lead to the suspension of the voting right of the country concerned, or to other serious sanctions. The Hungarian government disputes that the European Parliament adopted the report with the required two-thirds majority, and is therefore turning to the Court of Justice of the European Union in the case.

At the beginning of the first such video message posted on the government spokesperson’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the EP’s liberal group appears, saying that “we need migration”. The authors of the video message next take account of “facts” such as that since 2015 1.8 million migrants have entered the European Union, and millions more wish to come. Since the beginning of the crisis hundreds of people have lost their lives “in vicious attacks” all across Europe, and violent crime is on the rise. “And Guy Verhofstadt wants more migration”, the narrator adds. The authors of the video message described Mr Verhofstadt’s intentions as reckless. “Time to shake up Europe! Let’s protect Europe!”, the video message concludes.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)