At a ceremony in Hódmezővásárhely János Lázár, the Minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office, said that Saint Stephen not only founded a state, but also built alliances. By founding the independent State of Hungary he became one of the builders of Christian Europe, the Minister said.
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At the event on Thursday Mr. Lázár stressed that 20 August is about this dual commitment – especially since, given its location, Hungary has preserved its geopolitical status and the role which it has had to play for a thousand years. Hungary used to be either a bridge or a fortress on the border between the two worlds of the West and the East; it has now regained this historical role, which it played in the time of Saint Stephen, the Minister added. Hungary has remained a defence zone and border castle for Christian Europe, he explained. The high numbers of illegal immigrants making for Hungary and travelling through it onto the rest of Europe are not enemies, he said, but they are a burden.
The question is whether the country and Europe can sustain such a burden, he added.
Mr Lázár said that there are two answers: one beautiful and one true. People not facing the challenge of running the country say that immigrants should come, and “the Government and the country should look after them, while cutting taxes, raising wages, building roads, schools and hospitals”. But such people ignore the interests of Hungarians, he said.
The other answer, the Minister continued, is that neither Hungary nor Europe is strong enough to sustain this unexpected extra burden. “Unless we do something, we will become a lifeboat sinking under the weight of people holding on to it, and drowning everybody – both those seeking help and those offering help”, he said.
The more than 60 million people heading towards the southern borders are not all alike, but they pose a risk to every citizen of Hungary and Europe, Mr. Lázár said.
He said that some pose a risk to national security because it is inevitable that masses of migrants coming without documents or other forms of identification will include political and religious extremists. Others pose a risk to law and order because they are no longer able or willing to respect private property. Yet others pose a risk to the security of livelihoods because they increase the number of poor unqualified people who do not speak the language of their host country.
But migration is just a symptom, Mr. Lázár stressed, the real problem being that distant countries have seen order destroyed and their societies have descended into anarchy.
Merely trying to treat the symptoms and ignoring the real causes of the problems will, however, cripple both Europe and Hungary, Mr Lázár said.
Management of symptoms is also counterproductive, he added, as it sends the wrong message to distant countries: the message that people do not need to work or defend order at home, but should move to another world in order to survive. “It is not selfishness for us to tell the truth that Europe lacks the space and money to take in millions of people; it is a sense of responsibility towards everyone”, the Minister stressed.
We must stop migration, he said. If we cannot do so where migrants depart from, then we must do so where they reach the borders of Europe – whether on the Greek or Italian coasts or on Hungary’s borders. At the same time, we must take action to provide refugees already in Hungary with the minimum required to live. In this respect Hungary goes out of its way to help genuine refugees, he stressed.
Mr. Lázár said that a state can exist as long as it has powerful allies – a fact recognised by Saint Stephen. Such allies can ask for protection on the southern and eastern borders, but must give something in return. “Hungary is ready to reprise the role of a bastion for Christian Europe, which it has repeatedly played in the past – but this will require support from the heartland of Europe which lies behind it [...] Europe’s bastion can fulfil its historic mission if it is not left without support”, Mr. Lázár said, calling this a message of 20 August to Europe and the world.
(MTI)
