Interview with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán

Rio de Janeiro, August 23 (MTI) – Hungary will fully protect its borders regardless of whether or not Turkey carries out its threat to allow migrants into the European Union, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview to the Tuesday edition of Brazilian daily Folha de S. Paulo.

Orban also said it was “impossible” to exempt Turkey from EU visa obligations.

The paper noted that in the migration deal signed between Turkey and the EU earlier this year, Brussels pledged to grant Turkey visa-free status. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to allow migrants to pass into the EU unless Turkish citizens are granted visa exemptions.

Orbán told the paper that the EU is unable to fulfil its promise to grant Turkey visa-free status. This is a “huge problem and a sensitive issue”, Orban said, adding, however, that he is unconcerned regarding Ankara’s threat to send migrants back to the bloc.

Turkey cannot carry out its threat because the Hungarian border is the EU’s “front gate” and “we are protecting our borders 100 percent,” Orban insisted.

The prime minister expressed his support for Turkey’s stability and Erdogan’s mandate as president. “If there is no stability in Turkey then the entire region will have a problem. We have to support the Turkish government,” said Orbán. He added, at the same time, that a possible return of the death penalty, which the government considered after the failed coup in July, could veer Turkey off the path towards the EU.

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