Orban: Attack on Paris attack on Europe

Budapest, November 16 (MTI) – The European Union has been attacked and “we are also in danger,” Prime Minister Viktor Orban said before a plenary session of parliament on Monday, commenting on the Paris terror attacks.

Orban expressed Hungary’s condolences to France, and cited President Francois Hollande, who said the Paris attacks had been “an act of war”.

Orban said not only are France and the French people at war. France is a member of the EU, so the community, of which Hungary is a member, was also attacked in Paris. “This is our business, too,” he said.

What happened in Paris last Friday can happen elsewhere in Europe. “We are not safe either,” he added.

“We Hungarians have so far been keen to close the borders in front of the crowds arriving from the Middle East and Africa but we were told off that this is inhumane,” he said. “Now what would be humane? Closing the borders from illegal border violators or risking the lives of innocent European citizens?” he asked.

The EU is drifting, it is weak, uncertain and paralysed. “There are meetings and conferences … but no solutions,” he said, adding that “we are all tangled in the web of ideologies instead of acting based on our common sense and our own culture and heritage,” he said.

Many European leaders are still pondering how to manage the transport and reception of masses of immigrants instead of taking joint and practical steps to stop the inflow, he said. In Brussels, they are still saying immigration is a good thing, when day after day evidence emerges that it is bad. This is not a win-win but a no-win situation, the prime minister added.

“We feel that Europe’s existence is at stake,” Orban said. Brussels is sending the wrong messages and invitations over and again to migrants instead of honestly telling them that they will not get here what they expect, he said.

It has become evident that terrorists are using migration, consciously and in a well-organised way, to blend in with crowds of people who are leaving their homes in the hope of a better future, Orban said.

He said that all European leaders had known about the danger; the Greeks said long ago that the arrival of jihadists could not be ruled out. He added that migrants come from areas where European states are conducting military operations.

“We do not think that everyone who comes from those areas are terrorists, but nobody can tell how many terrorists there are among the migrants. How many have come, how many are already here and how many still arrive day after day” he said. Even one terrorist is one too many. “It is appalling to think that terrorists may have crossed Hungary’s borders,” Orban said.

The prime minister argued there were “grave dangers” inherent in migration which are reasons for halting it. The influx of masses into Europe increases the threat of terrorism and crime, he said, adding that it may not be “politically correct to discuss this” but the discussion deserved an airing. Crowds of people arriving from other continents “also endanger our culture, lifestyle, customs and traditions,” he added. “Even those who live under the illusions of multiculturalism can now see where all this is leading to,” he added.

The EU’s mandatory quota plan would “spread terrorism in Europe,” he said, underlining Hungary’s rejection of plans for a migrant quota system. He said European policies must be revisited and abide by “four commandments”: “protection of the EU’s external borders, our culture and economic interests, and people must be given the right to influence European decisions.” He said the quota system was not only without reason but it would only aggravate the crisis. Countries under pressure will restore their internal EU borders, which spells the end of the Schengen regime, he said, adding that the quota system was illegal because European leaders did not have the authority to make decisions on such matters.

Photo: MTI

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