EPP congress – Orbán: EU has to change for Europe to stay ‘best place on Earth’
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St. Julian’s, Malta, March 30 (MTI) – The European Union has to change in order for Europe to remain the “best place on Earth”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at the congress of the European People’s Party (EPP) in Malta on Thursday.
If the EPP intends to be the one to lead this change, it too will have to change, Orbán said in his address.
Intellectual and political confrontation “with the Left” should be accepted without a fear of criticism and of “being called populists, because we know that is not what we are”, he said.
The EPP has to become the figurehead of Europe, a party accommodating national pride and Christian identity, he said.
Orbán said Europe’s future “casts a shadow” on its present, adding that this was what had allowed radical parties to gain ground on “the world’s most important continent”. He said Europe faces crises in competitiveness, migration, security, demographics and foreign policy.
The situations in Ukraine and the Balkans also pose problems for the continent, the prime minister added.
Orbán said migration had turned out to be a “Trojan horse” for terrorism, adding that the “language of liberal political correctness” had failed to grasp the real dangers of migration.
He said the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) should be reformed quickly, arguing that its rulings posed a danger to the security of Europeans and were tantamount to invitations for migrants.
Orbán said central Europe had suffered under communist and Soviet rule for decades and the countries of this region are thankful to have been given the chance to join the EU. He said Europe “is the best place in the world, for now”.
