On Thursday Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI that in the referendum on Sunday the people of Hungary can give “a resounding reply” to lies about Hungary being spread by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Minister issued the statement in reaction to an article by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks, which was published in the online edition of the New York Times. In the article Mr. Muižnieks criticises Hungary’s refugee policy and, in relation to the EU Summit in Bratislava, wrote that it came as no surprise that Hungary was “among the countries most hostile to the European Union proposals on migration”. He claimed that “Hungary’s disengagement from human rights protections and the rule of law is not new”, adding that “it is on migration that Hungary’s departure from human rights norms is most glaring”.

In relation to the above, Mr. Szijjártó said that the Commissioner’s “ignorance and hatred of Hungary is astonishing”. It is clear, he said, that “there is reality, and then there is what Mr. Muižnieks says”, and that the two do not coincide at any point.

According to the Foreign Minister, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights is “attacking with his breathtaking lies” a country which is conforming to all international regulations. “It is obvious that in essence Nils Muižnieks and his confederates are inciting the violation of international law and the illegal crossing of state borders – things which lead to chaos and anarchy”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

Mr. Szijjártó also noted that “By comparing the aggressive wave of immigration to the refugees of 1956, Mr. Muižnieks has defamed the thousands of victims of the Revolution sixty years ago, and those who were forced to flee communist dictatorship”. He pointed out that “In fact the refugees of 1956 waited peacefully in the neighbouring country of Austria to be informed which countries would admit them; they respected the laws of the countries which received them, and they did not occupy railway stations or attack police officers”.

The Minister stressed that on Sunday the people of Hungary can give a “resounding reply to Nils Muižnieks’ lies”.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)