Hungary rejects becoming a “mixed society,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Brussels on Wednesday while speaking in a panel discussion at the National Conservatism Conference (NatCon).
“Hungary does not want a mixed society, it wants to protect its borders, it wants to preserve its culture and traditions,” said the Hungarian prime minister, stressing that it is up to each member state to decide independently how it wants to solve the issue of migration.
There is no need for a common EU migration policy, the issue of migration must remain a national competence, the prime minister said, adding that in his opinion migration is a civilizational issue.
During the panel, which was held with Israeli-American philosopher Yoram Hazony, who heads the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem, Orbán stressed that those whose asylum applications are pending should wait outside the borders.
Hungary’s leader stated that crossing the border illegally is simple to understand, as it is an illegal act, and illegal border crossing is not a human right, but a crime.
“In Hungary, the border is the border, and anyone who is not entitled to enter the country does not cross the border,” Orbán said. “This is the most important issue, this is the red line. If this is not achieved across Europe, migration will not be solved.”
Europe is a continent with Christian roots, but the majority of those who now want to come to Europe come from other cultures, mainly Muslim backgrounds. Moreover, migration has a historical horizon that stretches out indefinitely, so the question has to be asked how Hungary will look like in the future, whether it will be Christian, Muslim or from another cultural background.
Orbán said that everyone must decide for themselves what kind of environment and culture they want to create, but no one should impose their will on others. Hungary believes that the mixed society outlined by the liberals is not a good way forward.
According to the prime minister, we cannot also determine how each country solves the problem of an aging society from a centralized position in Brussels. According to Hungary, forcing migration is not the answer to aging. Among other things, Hungary wants to improve the situation through a strong support system for families, he said.
He stressed that conservative governments, including Hungary, that the Brussels leadership says are “not behaving properly,” are being blackmailed, and the European Commission has become a political actor instead of a guardian of the EU treaties. The real reason for the EU leadership’s push for migration, he said, is that the liberals want to gather new voters and transform society in their own vision.
