Speaking on Kossuth Radio’s “180 minutes,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stressed that without the V4 countries – Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia – the European Union would have hardly any economic growth. “We have never been stronger than now,” he said.
Expect something different at next week’s EU summit, the prime minister said, because two countries – Italy and Austria – have joined our group in opposing the “Willkommenskultur” of the West. “We aim to do the right thing responsibly,” he said, “provide assistance to those in need without destroying our own culture.”
It is in our interest, he said, that the Hungarian-Serbian border will no longer be the external border of the EU. “The further the external border is from Hungary, the higher our security gets,” he stressed. On the European People’s Party, PM Orbán said that Hungary supports a strong EPP.
According to the premier, three major questions remain on the table related to migration: whether to protect the borders or not, what to do with those who are already inside the EU and who should be permitted to enter. PM Orbán said that Hungary’s response to these questions is clear: we will protect our borders, we will assist them in going back home and we will keep tough limits on the numbers allowed to enter.
“Now we cannot say that the Hungarian people didn’t hand us all the tools required to protect the country,” Orbán said on the Stop Soros package, adopted by Parliament on Wednesday. Although there is no problem with NGOs trying to assert political influence, “the only thing we ask for is to have clear water in the glass,” the prime minister said. “[I]f you receive foreign funding, then just go ahead and admit it.”
Regarding European Council President Donald Tusk’s visit this afternoon, the PM said that he is “feeling a disturbance in the force” as the European Commission recently began to challenge the Council President’s exclusive right to convene an EU summit. The Commission is increasingly becoming a political body, according to the PM, driving its own political agenda while it disregards the original task defined for the Commission in the basic treaties.
“I’m a Peru fan,” Orbán said jokingly when asked about yesterday’s Croatia-Argentina World Cup clash. As the prime minister of a Central European country, PM Viktor Orbán said he also supports Croatia. “Go Croatia!” he cheered.