The meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán this week has shown that voters will have to decide between a humane EU built on liberal democracy or an “autocratic future within fences and walls” at the 2019 EP election, an MEP of the leftist Democratic Coalition said on Saturday.

Péter Neidermüller told a press conference in Budapest that the prime minister “has obviously committed himself to far-right governments”. In doing so, Orbán ruins moderate right-wing politics in Europe, he said.

Orbán “refuses to understand” that restrictive immigration policies do not solve the problem but boost the activities of human smugglers,

Neidermüller, who is also DK’s deputy leader, said.

Orbán met Merkel in Berlin on Thursday, where they discussed economic cooperation, defence policy and their countries’ migration policies. Merkel said after the talks that defence cooperation between Germany and Hungary was close, and called for further strengthening economic ties in the EU in the face of challenges such as digitalisation, alternative modes of transport and artificial intelligence. Orbán said that Hungary is taking a big burden off Germany’s shoulders by preventing anyone who enters Hungary from sidestepping the law, and that Hungary’s border protection efforts should be recognised as solidarity.

Ruling Fidesz responded by saying that

Neidermüller “is considered a faithful ally of [American financier George] Soros in Brussels”.

He is “one of those who have voted in favour of every pro-migration decision, he regularly participates in attacks against Hungary, supports mandatory migrant resettlement” and has signed a resolution saying that NGOs offering humanitarian assistance to migrants should not be punished for their actions, the party said in a statement.

Source: MTI