“[W]hat kind of European Union do we want?” asked Prime Minister Orbán, during this morning’s interview. “We want a democratic European Union. Where the internal affairs, customs, ethnic mixture, culture are defined by the people living in the European countries, not by a Brussels elite.” The prime minister’s call for a more democratic EU came in response to recent remarks made by Luxembourg’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn warning of the risks of important EU issues being decided in voter referenda.
“This Brussels bureaucratic elite is very clearly acting against the will of the peoples of Europe,” the prime minister said. “This is the kind of European Union we don’t want. But a democratic, free European Union that respects the member states.”
Hungary can’t be seen as stepping away from the European Union because “we are a part of it. The question is whether we’ll have the strength to change it,” PM Orbán said, emphasizing that a referendum, a clear expression of the voters’ will might provide that strength. “A man can fight without hope as well, but we are optimistic,” he said. In the prime minister’s words, forcing illegal migration onto European nations is like forcing people to hand over their house keys to strangers. But “the security of people should come first.”
The prime minister pushed back at the phrase “core Europe” in response to the interviewer’s question regarding the so-called two-speed Europe. For a long time, France and Germany were the core of Europe, but the economic center of gravity has shifted to the East, to Central Europe, including Germany.
The region, especially Poland and Hungary, is under heavy fire these days. The way Poland – a “great nation with enormous history, a freedom fighting people” – is treated in Brussels these days is unjust and offensive, the prime minister said. However, this criticism, coming from the Brussels elite is once again a sign of the very different understanding of democracy that prevails in Brussels.
Former US President Bill Clinton’s remarks earlier this week should also be seen in the context of an attempt by a left-wing elite to force Muslim migration upon Europe, something which Hungary and Poland, together with other member states, are aiming to block.
“I have to say that although the mouth belongs to Clinton, the voice belongs to George Soros,” he said, explaining that Soros, who is a prominent donor to Democratic causes and the Clinton campaign, is the greatest advocate of Muslim migration into Europe. “George Soros published his six points supporting Muslim migration to Europe, in which he announced that at least one million Muslims should be allowed [into Europe] each year, that they must be provided a safe path and that Europe should be happy to get such a chance and shouldn’t be defending against it.”
It seems to be the fate of Hungary, said PM Orbán, that “once every thirty years it ends up in the center of focus of world politics…And today, for halting the migrant wave, we once again became a key country.” The prime minister’s allusion to historical trends applies to the broader region as well, for much of this history is shared with other Central European countries. However, PM Orbán said that this is a responsibility, and Hungary should not back off just because the “spotlight” and the “loud audience” are intimidating. Afterall, the future of the country and European democracy are at stake.