Viktor Orbán “in a state of shock” after Trump’s withdrawal from Paris agreement

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told Kossuth Rádió Friday morning that he was “in a state of shock,” after he heard that President Donald Trump will withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change. Mr. Orbán then noted that on the Hungarian right, and in Hungarian society, the science of climate change is not called into question. “In Hungary, there is a consensus that climate change is real, that it is dangerous and since it is a global phenomenon, it requires global action to combat it. This view stands in opposition to the president’s decision,” remarked Mr. Orbán, in his customary Friday morning interview on state radio. He then added that more thought and reflection is needed to determine the consequences of Mr. Trump’s decision.

Viktor Orbán in Kossuth Rádió’s studio on Friday morning.

Gergely Gulyás, the deputy leader of Fidesz in parliament, remarked that Hungary’s ruling party believes that Mr. Trump’s decision is “unfortunate” and that it “does not serve the future,” adding that as the second largest producer of carbon emissions, the American exit from the climate change agreement would be a “major wound” to these international efforts.

Erzsébet Schmuck of the Politics Can Be Different green party (Lehet Más a Politika – LMP) announced that her party will ask both President János Áder and Prime Minister Orbán to convince and work together with international partners on pressuring Washington to change course. Ms. Schmuck added that Mr. Trump was sending the worst possible message to the international community.

Csaba Molnár of the Democratic Coalition (DK) noted that the American president was “committing an indefensible crime against the world” by withdrawing from the Paris agreement. Europe must now become a model, especially when faced with the U.S., on fighting climate change.

Viktor Szigetvári of the Együtt party also spoke out: “Climate change is a scientific fact. To question this, out of political considerations, is both anachronistic and a denial of reality…We trust that in the end rational thinking will prevail and that the United States will reconsider its decision.”

This seems to be the first time in years that almost the entire Hungarian political spectrum is in broad agreement on an issue.

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