In an interview aired on Czech commercial television station Barrandov on Friday evening, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared that “the Visegrád Group is the future of Europe”.

The Prime Minister justified his statement by underlining that the rate of economic growth in the Visegrád Group (V4) countries is twice the European Union average, and that the V4 is currently the engine of Europe’s economic growth.

The Prime Minister, whose interview with Barrandov television took place during his official visit to Prague on Friday, said that “The V4 is a successful region. I trust that what is good for the V4 is also good for all of Europe”.

In reply to a question on possible enlargement of the Visegrád Group, Mr. Orbán said that it is a “difficult issue”, explaining that Hungary’s standpoint is that the Group should be preserved in its current form. He noted, however, that it is worth establishing “special relations” with other countries that are interested in developing closer cooperation.

In reply to a question on migration-related problems, the Hungarian prime minister pointed out that “The issue of migration is in fact also a question of democracy, because by admitting migrants the character of the affected states changes”.

According to Mr. Orbán, on this issue Europe is currently split into two camps: one group of countries want to admit migrants and accept that as a result their countries’ characters will gradually change; while the other group – which includes Hungary and the Czech Republic – are not prepared to accept this, and want to defend the traditional Christian values of European culture.

The Prime Minister said that currently there is a power struggle in Europe, and the elections to the European Parliament next May are extremely important, because the decision which must be taken is about the future of Europe.

“The Hungarian government did not wish to make decisions over the heads of the people”, he explained, “and accordingly it asked for their opinions – and conducts its policies while taking that into account”. The Prime Minister declared that “Migration is also a question of national security, and I will not allow the security of the Hungarian people to be endangered”.

Mr. Orbán said that he has found an excellent partner in Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš, who has interesting ideas and with whom there is very good cooperation on advancing the interests of the V4 within the European Union.

In the interview Mr. Orbán described the relationship between Hungary and the Czech Republic as “more than an alliance, it is a friendship”, and stressed that Budapest has an interest in the closest possible cooperation between the two countries.

(MTI)