The Prime Minister said that one of the elements of George Soros’s plan is for one million migrants to be brought into Europe every year. The second element in the billionaire’s plan would be a European asylum authority which, Mr. Orbán observed, would seize powers in this area from the authorities of the Member States. “It would not allow us to decide who to admit”, the Prime Minister said, and the Member States would also be unable to decide on the distribution of migrants.
According to Mr. Orbán, on the issue of immigration everybody knows that Hungary is right: this is now “a basic assumption” in Europe, and in private conversations almost all the prime ministers acknowledge this. He added that Europe is not being guided by the people, however, but by opinion makers who are tied to liberalism by ideology and financial interests, and who are making decisions in conflict with the interests of their own countries. At the same time, he pointed out, European politicians are increasingly demanding the end of migration, and such a turnaround is sure to take place at some point.
Everybody knows, he continued, that distributing migrants who have already been let in is not the solution: those heading for Europe should be stopped in Libya, while those who are already in Europe illegally must be taken away from the continent, “rather than be passed around among ourselves, as if we were in some bad card game in which you pass your worst cards to other players”. In his view, if Europe talks about the distribution of immigrants, in Africa this is seen as an invitation.
On the subject of Libya, Mr. Orbán said that its former leader, Muammar Gaddafi, should not have been killed. No one claims that there was exemplary democratic governance in Libya, but at least there was a government, he said. He described as “European insanity” the practice of demanding that principles employed in Western countries are also applied in areas with civilisations which are different from ours. Doing this, he said, destroys the stability of those countries. When Gaddafi was alive there was no mass migration, he pointed out, because there was an agreement between Italy and Libya. He added that the leaders of Europe are responsible for the situation which has developed. In his view, European armed forces should be stationed on Libya’s northern coast.
Speaking about non-governmental organisations, the Prime Minister noted that Italy is now facing the same problem as Hungary was in 2015: when the main migration route led through the Balkans, these international networks did what they are now doing in Italy. They are financed by George Soros, Mr. Orbán said, and they support the illegal crossing of borders and they rescue criminals and terrorists. He believes that only people in Hungary who are not prepared to recognise “these obvious facts” are the Hungarian left-wing news media and “those on George Soros’s payroll”.
The Prime Minister is expecting to see ever more nations reject plans like those conceived by Soros, and “after Italy, we are waiting for the next Member State to join our club”.
Frans Timmermans, the First Vice-President of the European Commission, has likened the current migration situation to the wave of Hungarian refugees in 1956. In response to this the Prime Minister said that in 1956 any Western European government claiming that the Hungarians were culturally alien would have fallen. Hungary is a Christian country, forms part of Europe, and those who deny this fact now, or who have done in the past, “might as well have their stupidity tattooed on their foreheads”, he said.
When the Hungarians were forced to flee, not one of them simply marched across the border. They obeyed the instructions of border guards and “compliantly went to the Austrian refugee camps” where they stayed peaceably for years, before being distributed among third countries. “But for people to just set out, trample across fences […], cross borders, openly state that they will violate European and national laws, and tell us where they want to go, and that no one can stop them – well, there was nothing like that in 1956”, he said.
Speaking about US President Donald Trump’s visit to Warsaw on the previous day, the Prime Minister highlighted the importance of the US President deciding to deliver his first major public programme speech in Central Europe – and in the Polish capital at that.
He also noted that on the issue of migration the positions of the United States and Central Europe coincide: the borders must be protected, and migrants must be detained.
Speaking about energy policy, he drew attention to the rivalry between the United States and Russia over supplying gas to Europe. As a customer, Hungary has access to both American and Russian gas, and if there is competition, the customer will opt for the cheaper product; and so “those who are able to sell gas in Europe should just compete for our money, and we’ll buy the cheapest”, he said.
In response to Chancellor of Austria Christian Kern’s statement the other day related to divisions within the Visegrád Four (V4), Mr. Orbán said that in politics it is never wise to mix reality with one’s desires. He said he understands that it pains the Austrians not to be included in the V4 cooperation: “Austria is a country that tends to stand alone” and, though it is a talented country with high living standards, “in a foreign policy sense, it is at a loss”. He stated that “Our Austrian friends should not hope to break the unity of the V4”.
On the subject of the World Aquatics Championships, which will open in Hungary next week, he said that the country has never before hosted an event on such a scale, and this is a test of our strength: “we’ll see what we are capable of”. He mentioned the Budapest developments linked to the Championships – such as the developments on Margit Island, the refurbishment of swimming pools and flood control projects – which would hardly have been possible without the sports event, or at least not within a timeframe of less than two years.