Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said that EU plans to fine countries who refuse migrant entry are a "punch to the stomach".
The European Union’s latest proposal of fining countries 250,000 EUR per migrant for refusing to take in refugees allocated to them under the quota system is a "horse kick", said the prime minister during an interview on state broadcaster Kossuth Rádió.
Repeating his earlier standpoint against the EU’s refugee policies, the prime minister said that steps should first be made to protect borders and refugee camps should be set up outside the EU. Migrants “must be kept out! It is unacceptable that they are waiting for a decision inside," he argued.
Highlighted in an article in Hungary Today, concerning the EU proposal of fining countries 250,000 EUR for refusing to take in refugees allocated to them under the EU quota, Prime Minister Orban pointed out that the sum amounts to 40 years’ average salary in Hungary and it is the strongest possible propaganda against the European Union.
Hitting out at Brussels for sitting isolated from the world in an ivory tower, the prime minister said that “it’s difficult to form indignation into a civilised form”. Commenting on former NATO chief Javier Solana’s comment suggesting that Hungary would be refused accession to the EU were it to apply today, the Prime Minister labelled the Spanish politician an “old Communist”.
Prime Minister Orbán hailed the decision of Hungary's high court, the Kuria, to give the go-ahead for the government’s referendum on the mandatory quota system and claimed that the referendum is “not a legal dispute” and necessary to “stop Brussels”.