Orban interview: “Sympathy is not enough, we should act”

Berlin, September 12 (MTI) – It is natural to feel sympathy for migrants “but sympathy is not enough: action is needed,” Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in an interview to the Saturday edition of German daily Bild.

Asked how he felt about the Syrian boy seen washed up on a beach, Orban said he had been shocked. The loss of each and every life is a tragedy, he said. “But I also thought of his parents who had left a safe refugee camp outside Syria and risked their lives and those of their children.”

In response to a question about the extent to which the refugee crisis can be seen as a German issue, Orban said that Germany’s decision to let migrants enter its territory freely had “triggered an uprising” among the migrants in Hungary. Until then, the Hungarian authorities had managed to keep the situation under control, but Berlin’s announcement had caused “chaos”, he said.

Asked to compare the current situation with Hungary’s opening its western border in 1989, Orban said that the East German refugees had not stayed here illegally, had respected the law and Hungary let them leave for the West on its own accord.

“But now foreigners are breaking through our borders,” he said.

In response to a question about what it feels like to be Europe’s “chief villain”, Orban said “I cannot do otherwise . We Hungarians are guaranteeing the free movement of Europeans and we are protecting their borders”.

Migrants are being cheated both by human smugglers and European politicians who promise them a better life and the right to stay, even after peace has been restored in their homeland, he said.

“The honey flowing in Germany will soon seem less sweet than they hoped.” Living standards are determined by performance rather than needs, he said.

Asked about where the refugees should go if Hungary closes its borders next Tuesday, Orban said that they should return to where they came from.

“They are not arriving from a war zone, they are not fleeing danger and they are not coming to Europe to find safe haven but to have a better life, perhaps in Germany or Sweden,” he said.