Causes of tensions triggered by migration to strengthen, says Orbán in EU-Arab League summit

The causes of current tensions triggered by migration will strengthen, raising the question of whether “we want to take control of these trends or simply suffer from them”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at the first European Union – Arab League summit in Egypt on Monday.

Experience shows the need of mutual respect for the cultural, religious and political traditions of various nations, Orbán told the summit in Sharm El Sheikh, adding that the power of demographics should never been underestimated.

He said the demographic trends pointing to more intensive migration would likely strengthen, with the population of the Arab world to increase by 30 percent from 2015 to 2030, and that of Europe to decrease simultaneously.

Orbán said that human smugglers, terrorist organisations, illegitimate power groups, NGOs, financial speculators and the media were exercising strong influence on migration policies and through them on European-Arab relations.

“We would like to see legitimate political leaders jointly set the direction of future events, which makes our today’s declaration extremely important,” Orbán said.

Hungarian policies are based on the principle that help must be taken to where the trouble is instead of spreading the trouble, Orbán said.

As a nation of ten million people, Hungary is clearly aware of the extent of its influence and pursues its foreign policy accordingly, he said.