Orbán: EU at Turkey’s mercy

Berlin (MTI) – The European Union is at the mercy of Turkey, a situation that is “never good” as the EU’s security should not be put in the hands of a non-EU power, Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, said in an interview in German weekly Wirtschaftswoche on Friday.

The prime minister said that he had accepted the EU’s Turkey strategy on condition that a border protection system would be put in place.

“A continent should be able to defend itself,” he said.

Orbán noted that the EU members would soon pay Turkey 3 billion euros and then another 3 billion euros and no one can see when this will end. In June, Europe will face another challenge as Turkey will insist on a no-visa regime and will let refugees go to Europe if it does not get the waiver, he said, insisting that Europe should protect itself from that wave of refugees.

The prime minister called it unfair that Hungary had been attacked for strictly guarding the EU’s external border, an attitude for which “it should rather have deserved recognition”.

Orbán said that Brussels’ plan on the protection of external borders relies on the good intent of member states but “misses the target” as it focusses on reforming the refugee system. He said that the reform should rather concentrate on protecting the external borders, otherwise “we will be unable to resolve the migration issue.”

“If external border protection does not function, Schengen will be dead,” he said.

Outlining his recently announced Schengen 2.0 action plan, Orbán said that member states that are unable to protect the EU’s external borders and reject the assistance offered by other members should be excluded from the zone.

He added that decisions on the status of refugees should be made in camps located outside the EU but maintained by the union.

Orbán said that accepting refugees should remain the competence of national parliaments. Hungary wants to solve its demographic and labour market problems with “a future-oriented family policy” rather than immigration, he said.

Orbán called Europe a “construction in permanent motion. It is like a shark: if it stops, it dies.” It is “absurd” that it seems to be merely composed of EU institutions which the member states should follow, he said.

The prime minister said he had disputes with Brussels, not Berlin, and with the EU officials, not Angela Merkel.

Orbán said that Hungary, just like himself, is part of Europe. This is why it makes proposals for improving the EU’s situation rather than quit the union, he said. The prime minister ruled out that Hungary would follow the “British road”.

Asked about his concept of “illiberal state”, Orbán said that the “systems competing with Europe are no doubt successful but Europe fails to admit this as it would hurt its self-esteem.”

It would be unwise to close one’s eyes to reality but “I do not think that a Russian of Chinese regime could be built in Germany. Nor is it possible in Hungary,” he said.

Orbán said that Europe had developed a system in which all democrats should be liberals. Formerly there were Christian democrats and “even social democrats” but now “everyone should define themselves as liberal”. An absurd situation has emerged in which “if you are not a liberal, you are not a democrat either.” For this reason, some issues cannot be discussed and some opinions cannot be expressed. “Liberalism has now become an enemy of free debate and those who do not remain in the mainstream discourse are excluded from the circle of democrats,” Orbán said.

Photo: MTI

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