State Secretary Zoltán Kovács has decried media reports stating that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “hinted at Hungary leaving the European Union” in his keynote speech delivered on Saturday.
In a statement posted on the website of the state secretariat for government communication, Kovács said “while PM Orbán did talk about the challenges of the Hungary-European Union relationship,” he did not hint at Hungary leaving the bloc, as German news agency dpa stated in its headline. “The most important thing is whether we want to stay together. Especially here in Europe because the European Union only has a future if we can stay together despite the growing cultural alienation. We, for our part, want to keep the European Union together, and that is why we have repeatedly made offers of tolerance to Brussels and to Berlin,” Kovács cited PM Orbán as saying in his speech. Hungary does not expect from Brussels to adopt Hungary’s policies on migration, families or foreign affairs, Kovács said. At the same time, “neither can they demand that we adopt theirs,” he said.
Kovács said that PM Orbán, contrary to what dpa said in its headline, had highlighted the importance of the bloc staying together, having a common future and Western and central European member states showing tolerance for each other. “So, why did the editors at DPA come up with this ridiculous, sensationalist headline? Because this is how Germany’s fake news factory works,” Kovács said.
Photo credit: MTI