Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has met with European Commission EC President-elect Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels.
After the meeting, the Prime Minister said it was a good decision to “keep the ideological guerillas away” and vote for leaders who have a “pragmatic instinct for life”. “We have come to a good decision, so far,” PM Orbán said.
According to MTI, the Prime Minister called Von der Leyen a politician “whose ideas for the future coincide with the same issues that concern us”. He cited security and the future of children and families as examples, adding that the development of a European military and arms industry were shared goals.
The Prime Minister added that von der Leyen has a sensitive approach to issues such as migration, and she has demonstrated that she can also “think with the head of a central European”. “We’ll see what happens,” PM Orbán said, adding that the chance of achieving “sensible solutions” was higher than in the past and better than had any other candidate for the EC post been selected.
PM Orbán summarized Thursday’s meeting as “successful”. Von der Leyen, he added, was “passionate” about the European Union’s survival and “instinctively” rejected any issue that divided member states. “We also want the various European Union countries to be brought together so that every country should remain as they are, Hungary could stay as Hungary,” he said.
The Prime Minister said pragmatic approaches to tough issues such as climate change, energy, economic policy and migration were likely, adding that debates over migration were expected to be more meaningful in the future.
PM Orbán said von der Leyen understood the gaps between the approaches of western Europeans and central Europeans. The former are concerned with integrating migrants while central Europe is unwilling to create a multicultural society.
The Prime Minister added that von der Leyen at the same time considered this should not form the central plank of the debate, but rather important matters should be discussed in which a positive outcome could be expected, such as border protection and procedures for migrants while the applicant is still outside EU territory, he said.
PM Orbán said they had agreed at the meeting that migrants should not be released into the EU while they are awaiting a decision on asylum. Rather, a humane solution should be found that ensures the safety of citizens. Also, they agreed that migrants who come to the EU illegally should be sent home.
Photo credit: Hir TV