The issue of migration is making the European parliamentary elections in May “decisive” for the continent and the European Union, the Hungarian state secretary for international communication and relations said on Swedish public television late on Sunday.
Zoltán Kovács and Stanislas Guerini, executive officer of the French ruling party, La Republique in Marche!, were guests on the current news programme Agenda on Sveriges Television. Ahead of the discussion with the guests, a video interview with Frans Timmermans, the deputy head of the European Commission, was aired.
Kovács said European civilisation is “fundamentally Christian in nature, if not religiously, then culturally”.
Regarding charges that Hungary is infringing on the basic values of the EU, Kovács said “we have no bad consciousness about those issues, especially not since the outbreak of the migration crisis three years ago, because it’s nothing but politics. The procedures the European Parliament and even the Commission have started against Hungary … are a political witch hunt … against Hungary.”
Hungary is opposed to French President Emmanuel Macron’s concept of a stronger Europe, Kovács said. Integration should focus on areas “where further integration is possible and required”, he said, such as a setting up a European defence force and the protection of European borders.
Guerini said “Europe can end at the next election… because some forces within Europe want [that]”. Macron’s proposal to “refund” the EU meant a renewal, “a renaissance”, he said.
Guerini said the “priority for tomorrow” was climate change.
In an interview taped separately and aired before the interviews of Kovács and Guerini, Timmermans said that the situation in Hungary was “extremely sad”. “[Prime Minister] Orbán in the last ten years has been successful in chaining people to their fears … He says he is a Christian and people in his custody aren’t fed,” he said, referring to the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling regarding provisions for migrants in Hungarian transit zones.
Source: MTI
