Prime Minister Viktor Orbán takes the view that Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic should be looked upon as an agent of the Socialist International whose duty it is to attack Hungary.
“The things that the Croatian Prime Minister says we do not regard as the opinion of the Croatian people”, Mr Orbán said on Friday on the programme 180 minutes of the public service radio station Kossuth Rádió, indicating that Zoran Milanovic and his party form part of the Socialist International, and the parties that belong to this organisation see immigration as a good thing.
The Hungarian Prime Minister believes that the instincts of the Visegrád Countries, the V4, function well as far as immigration is concerned, “there is a problem with the countries which take a more ideological stance”. As an example, he mentioned French and Italian politics, while a section of the German and Austrian political elite, too, clearly sees migration as a positive phenomenon, and therefore encourages it.
Regarding the Austrian position, the Prime Minister indicated that politics in Austria “is currently in a state of turmoil” due to the local elections; this is something we must acknowledge, and “we must seek to find ways to cooperate with the Austrians”. He remarked, however: it is not right that while Hungary is attempting to protect the borders, “they are shooting us in the back with friendly fire”.
Concerning the UN meeting held in New York this week with regard to the issue of migration, Mr Orbán said: his impressions were mixed. From among the leaders of Europe, the Maltese and the Hungarians proposed the introduction of global quotas wholeheartedly and courageously. In this context, he added that one of the problems is, in his view, that Europe is divided; there is no united response to immigration.
In answer to a question regarding the difference between the European and global quotas, he said: it is not fair that Europe should take on all the troubles of the world. “We are simply not able to do this” as this would crush the continent’s form of living.
It is not fair, he stressed, that the United States does not take in migrants, or only takes in migrants in very small numbers, the rich Arabic countries “seem to hesitate”, and Israel and Austria do not receive immigrants at all. Meanwhile, “everyone is turning their regard towards Europe” because someone sent economic migrants on this path.
The Prime Minister takes the view that people know very little in the world about the true nature of migration, for instance, the illegal business of human trafficking, or the fact that around 80 per cent of the migrants are young men who “resemble more an army than destitute asylum-seekers”.
Mr Orbán further said that the Geneva Conventions make it clear: people who are in trouble are entitled to assistance, but “there is no á la carte refugee”. In other words, a person who is in trouble cannot say that a certain safe country does not suit him and wants to go to another one. However, this principle is not being enforced, he continued, because some European leaders are happy to see their countries being flooded by tens of thousands of foreigners who are arriving in a completely uncontrolled manner.
As long as Europe fails to make clear that it cannot take everyone in and before entering the continent, everyone must undergo a procedure outside the territory of Europe, “they will keep coming”, he said.
Mr Orbán repeated: the Hungarian Government firmly believes that demographic problems should not be solved by means of immigration. If other European countries attempt to solve their demographic problems “with men who resemble young warriors”, they are free to do so, “but we cannot accept this approach being forced on Hungary”, he said. He remarked that a section of the Hungarian left, too, looks upon immigrants as a great opportunity. In his view this is a fatal mistake.
Concerning internal political affairs, the Prime Minister said that a government meeting will be held on Friday afternoon, and a decision will be taken regarding the person of the new state secretary for health care, once they have reviewed the situation with Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog.
Mr Orbán said in connection with the setting up of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office: “I would have always liked this, but I was unable to implement it before”. After winning the parliamentary elections last year, as he said, they were unable to “remove” Antal Rogán from his position as head of the Fidesz parliamentary group because unity within the parliamentary group is extremely important at the beginning of the cycle. Now, however, he felt that the time has come to change the head of the parliamentary group, and he may as a result obtain the assistance which he needs in his work as head of the government.
(Prime Minister's Office/MTI)