Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave an interview to the German tabloid daily Bild, in which he predicted that Muslims will form the majority population within Europe “in the foreseeable future,” thanks to immigration. Bild once again has the situation in Hungary as its cover page story.
“If Europe allows for competition between cultures, Christians will lose,” added Hungary’s prime minister. According to Mr. Orbán, “the only way out” of what he perceives to be Europe’s predicament is to “preserve” Europe for those who wish to live within a Christian cultural environment, by stopping the immigration of a growing number of Muslims.
Viktor Orbán at the St. Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest. Photo: Facebook.
“None of them want to return to their homes. I fear that they will all stay here,” added Mr. Orbán, when asked specifically about the Syrian refugees.
The prime minister’s alternative plan would be to pump significant European Union funds into countries that neighbour Syria (primarily Turkey), so as to give them the tools to settle and integrate the refugees fleeing civil war next door.
Mr. Orbán spoke glowingly of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (also an authoritarian ruler), noting that Turkey has been doing more than anyone else in trying to handle the historic flow of refugees. “We can’t let down countries like Turkey, and we can’t be stingy with them. We should celebrate a mass each week for the Turkish president,” added Mr. Orbán, suggesting that the EU was not appropriately appreciative of Ankara’s efforts.
Bild asked where the over 3,000 refugees who have been arriving in Hungary each day should go after September 15th, when state of emergency legislation passed by the Hungarian parliament will allow for the detention and summary conviction of any asylum-seeker crossing into Hungary illegally. “They should return to from where they came,” suggested Mr. Orbán, who apparently has no moral qualms sending back Syrian families to regions controlled by ISIS or to the dictatorial embrace and torture chambers of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
Mr. Orbán continues to believe that most arrivals are economic migrants, rather than refugees.
“One does not have a fundamental right to a higher standard of living, only a right to safety and human dignity,” remarked Mr. Orbán.
Hungary’s populist prime minister believes that EU leaders are “living in a dream world.”
“If we allow everyone in, Europe will be destroyed,” said Mr. Orbán,
The prime minister also took issue with the suggestion that implementing quotas would allow for a fair distribution of the hundreds of thousand refugees across EU member states. He said that it was an “illusion” to assume that refugees told to settle in places like Estonia or Portugal would passively stay there, and not try to relocate to Germany or Sweden at the first opportunity, seeing that they can travel freely within the Schengen Zone. Mr. Orbán emphasized that Hungary would continue to reject the proposed quota system, and that he is not afraid of EU sanctions. Instead, he suggested, the EU should consider punitive action against Greece, which has failed to protect the Schengen Zone’s external borders.
Meanwhile, Austrian Chancellor Werner Fayman was interviewed by Der Spiegel on Saturday. He drew a parallel between Hungary’s treatment of the Syrian refugees and the deportation of Jews during the Holocaust. “To put refugees onto a train, and to let them think that they are going somewhere else than where they are actually headed, is reminiscent of the darkest times on this continent,” said Mr. Fayman. The chancellor was reacting to a situation where Hungarian police removed 500 refugees from a train initially headed to the Austrian border, at the town of Bicske–40 km west of the capital–and tried to forcibly take them to a refugee camp, amidst scenes of chaos.
Syrian refugees being removed from the train in Bicske, 40 km west of Budapest. Photo: James Mates.
Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that the Austrian chancellor’s comments were “entirely unbecoming of a twenty-first century European politician.” Hungarian Foreign Affairs has summoned Austria’s ambassador in Budapest, as part of its protest against Mr. Fayman’s comments.
