The Prime Minister said that the Sargentini Report adopted on Wednesday represents no danger at all to Hungary, but that the background to the decision was a meeting between Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and President of France Emmanuel Macron – during which the former issued an ultimatum to Europe.
Mr. Orbán pointed out that the Chancellor had said that countries on the periphery of Europe, on the external border of the Schengen Area, must transfer part of their border security responsibilities to Brussels.
According to the Prime Minister, the plan is that if Hungary cannot be forced to allow entry to migrants, then it must be stripped of its right to defend its borders. He added that this would involve the stigmatisation of Hungary and the weakening of its resistance. He observed that “Instead of Hungarian border guards and military personnel, who guard the border […] have sworn an oath and for whom their homeland is important, they would send mercenaries here from Brussels […] and would let in migrants”.
Mr. Orbán stressed that The Sargentini Report was adopted as part of a procedure “that will end without any kind of sanction, and therefore without any danger; but they still did it, so that […] they can weaken Hungary”, by stigmatising the country.
He predicted that the next battle will be about who defends Hungary’s borders and about who decides on whom is allowed onto the country’s territory.
“They simply want to deprive us of the keys to the gate”, the Prime Minister said.
He added the European Parliament (EP) that adopted the report must “be accorded due respect, but simply be regarded as a discontinued line”, because new elections will be held next May.
The Prime Minister said that in his opinion there is a clear pro-immigration majority within today’s EP, which regards it as its historic mission to change the continent’s composition and implement population replacement. These politicians, he said, hate people who oppose this plan and who are trying to organise a resistance. He added that those who want to continue with a pro-immigration majority in the EP after next May are attacking Hungary, which has become a symbol of resistance against migration.
Mr. Orbán stressed that the Hungarian government’s experts have replied to every claim in the Sargentini Report: 19 of the claims in the report concern proceedings that are currently in progress; 13 relate to proceedings that have already been concluded; and 37 are factual errors.
The Prime Minister pointed out that in order to be able to denounce Hungary, the European Parliament had to break its own rules.
According to European rules, he said, adoption of the report required a two-thirds majority of the votes cast, and abstentions should also have been taken into account; therefore the proposal did not receive the required majority.
He indicated that a legal challenge will be launched in relation to the matter, but he does not view what happened as simply a legal matter. Mr. Orbán said that the European Parliament “is consuming the last crumbs of its moral authority”, by denouncing a country on the grounds of the rule of law, while disregarding its own regulations on the rule of law.
He drew attention to the fact that, in addition to migration, there is another important issue at stake in the upcoming European Union elections: EU budget statistics have shown that the European Union is providing hundreds of millions of euros in funding to “Soros” NGOs.
If the next European Parliament and European Commission have different compositions, he observed, “it’s game over” for these hundreds of millions of euros.
He added that The European Commission is giving money to non-governmental organisations that are to all intents and purposes conducting anti-Semitic campaigns against Israel. “The fact is that the centre of modern anti-Semitism, from where the anti-Israeli forces acting against Prime Minister Netanyahu are being organised is in Brussels”, he stated.
The Prime Minister declared that this cannot continue, and if Hungary has anything to do with it, then in May this situation will change. He stressed that for Hungary action against anti-Semitism is a matter of humanity and honour.
Speaking about Hungarian MEPs who voted in favour of adopting the report, the Prime Minister said that he understands the opposition’s exasperation at having lost three consecutive parliamentary elections. He noted that during such a struggle anger often comes to the surface, but it is shocking that the opposition is incapable of putting the fate of its own homeland before the hatred it feels for its political opponents, describing it as “in my opinion the communist style, the modern-day definition of the communists”. He added that “there is a problem with someone who hates their domestic political opponents more than they love their own homeland”.
Mr. Orbán also stressed that from the title of the report it is clear that it is denouncing not the Hungarian government, but Hungary.
