PM Orban: Border must be protected – Radio interview

Budapest, September 4 (MTI) – Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a radio interview on Friday that “if we do not protect our borders then tens of millions will come to Europe over and over again”.

Speaking about his talks in Brussels on Thursday, he told public Kossuth Radio that there were stark differences of opinion between the European Union and Hungary, since most EU leaders think that everyone should be allowed into the bloc. “But if we let in everyone then this means the end of Europe,” the prime minister said, adding that the mass migration would be “endless”.

“Sooner or later we will become a minority on our on continent,” he said. People who are coming to Europe “in hope of a better life” should be told before they leave that they should stay, “because they will not be let in”. Or if they are, they will be sent home, Orban added.

European citizens have a valid demand for security, and this can only be met by protecting the borders. Europe must be strong, but instead it is “rich and weak; the worst combination,” Orban said. “Strength must be shown in protecting the borders,” he insisted.

Orban said he had asked European leaders if they had a better idea than Hungary’s border fence and they said they did not like the fence but had no better idea.

On the plans for a quota system Orban said it only made sense to talk about distribution and quotas “if we are able to protect the border”. “I won’t support any solution which even its proponents realise is not a solution.”

Orban said no proposal had been presented in writing stating that refugees would be removed from Hungary. He said the opposite was the case: only one written proposal had been circulated, and that one would bring “a few thousand” people from Greece and Italy to Hungary; while Hungary already receives more migrants than those two countries, he added.

On the subject of Greece, Orban said he full-heartedly supports the Greeks, but if truth be told, were Greece to fulfil its Schengen obligations Hungary would have no problems. If everyone acted in the same way as the Greeks, the Schengen system and the whole of the European Union would collapse, he said.

On the subject of events at Budapest’s Keleti railway station, he said German communications had been at the root of the chaos, since the Germans had made an invitation which turned out to be a “false promise”.

He also said that the decision of certain countries that want to live together with Muslim communities should be respected but “we also have the right to decide whether we want to follow their example or not.” He said he recommended that Hungarians should not do that.

If Hungary lets through these migrants who do not want to accept Hungarian laws and refuse to cooperate, then the Austrians will close the border, Orban said. If Hungarians want to preserve the possibility of free movement within Europe, then they must protect the external borders and must make sure that those at Keleti station also respect the European regulations, he added.

If Germany gives a visa to these people, “then we will be able to let them leave”, he said.

Orban said Hungarian authorities deserved every respect. He said the police were “able to maintain order without using any violence and this was a great police performance in line with the European spirit.”

The new Hungarian regulations affecting migration that are expected to enter force in mid-September demonstrate the beginning of a new era, Orban said. An information campaign will be launched on Saturday to prepare migrants for the new situation, to make them understand that they should not enter Hungary illegally. Everyone should be ready to respect the new regulations, including Serbia, Macedonia, the immigrants and the human smugglers, Orban said.

He said he expected the Friday meeting of the Visegrad Four countries in Prague to demonstrate an understanding of situation and “instead of ideologies, it will be possible to talk about realities.” Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland consider their current identities valuable and they want to continue their European histories, Orban said.

“We can expect more understanding here than in Brussels,” he said.

At the same time, he said the meetings with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and with Donald Tusk were constructive and the meeting with the European Parliament President Martin Schulz, a Socialist, was “just as you’d expect”.

Commenting on the actions of vandals in Budapest ahead of Friday’s Hungary-Romania soccer match, he said. “I expected they would demonstrate more understanding and see what the current situation in Hungary is because of the migrants … However, it seems that not only the European leaders, but I also chase illusions sometimes.”

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters