The foreign minister has defended Hungarians after BBC reporter Emily Maitlis said the nation was xenophobic.
The Newsnight presenter also suggested that Hungary’s anti-immigration law “flouts human rights”, pointed out that the prime minister called some refugees “Muslim invaders” and spoke about his wish to maintain a “Christian Hungary.”
“So, this isn’t actually about immigration, is it? It’s about xenophobia,” Maitlis asked Péter Szijjártó, minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who said the accusation was a “very serious insult.”
“What we don’t want is a massive illegal influx coming from the south to us. We want to keep Hungary a Hungarian country. And we don’t think multiculturalism is by definition good,” he said. “I understand that the liberal mainstream doesn’t like our laws. But it is the Hungarian voters whose expectations we have to fulfill.”