European Liberals hold congress in Budapest

Budapest, November 20 (MTI) – Refugees arriving in Europe have fled from the same terrorism that Europe now faces, chairman of Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Graham Watson told the alliance’s congress in Budapest on Friday.

Watson noted that the West had not closed its borders to 200,000 Hungarians fleeing the country in 1956. Neither should they shut the borders now, he added.

Budapest has for centuries been a centre for culture, knowledge and tolerance, but Viktor Orban is now working to complete an illiberal state model, Watson said, and insisted that “the Hungarian prime minister is neither liberal nor a democrat”.

Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s prime minister, said it was a grave mistake to mix up migration and terrorism. This would only help terrorists achieve their goals, he said, adding that the European fundamental values of freedom and solidarity should be protected.

Concerning refugees, Bettel said that Syrians run to Europe for their life, leaving all they had behind. Politicians must understand, he said, that “they do not work for today; they will impact the lives of future generations”.

Guy Verhofstadt, head of the ALDE group in the European Parliament, said Budapest had been chosen as the venue for the congress as a way “to say no” to the illiberal state model of Hungary’s prime minister.

“Orban has turned completely populist; he has built a dictatorship of the majority in Hungary, which is against all liberal or human values. His problem is not only that of Hungary but of the whole of Europe”, Verhofstadt said.

Verhofstadt insisted that the European People’s Party, of which Orban’s Fidesz is member, is unaware of “the threat Orban poses”. “How could we act against Putin or dictators in Africa, if we cannot protect democracy at home?” he asked.

Zsuzsanna Szelenyi, of Hungary’s opposition Egyutt party, said that the economic crisis had elicited a fear of social liberalism and of a free market, which led to the emergence of populism. She insisted that populism does not provide any “practicable” answers as opposed to traditional European values.

“Orban is a populist. He fears liberalism and the free market because he thinks they would compromise security and unity, but that fear will also undermine European integration,” Szelenyi said. “But without freedom there is no development, economic growth or prosperity. Removing fear is the only way for Hungary and the whole of Europe to solve the problems,” she said.

Photo: MTI

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