V4-Benelux summit on migration issues

Different countries with divergent cultures are bound to support differentiated migration policies, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Warsaw on Monday.

Speaking at a joint press conference of Visegrad Group and Benelux leaders after a V4-Benelux summit on migration issues, Orbán said: “Some countries at the meeting made it clear that they would not change their cultural patterns” while there are some other countries “that live in a much more coloured world than we do”.

In light of those differences, “the European Union has undertaken a heroic task” of building a common migration policy, Orbán said. He said the community’s “experiment” was “worthy”, and although the steps taken were “small” there were some “encouraging details”.

“We continue to encourage the EU to try and build a common concept despite the divergence of positions”, Orbán said, adding that Hungary respected cultural differences, but “expectations should be kept low”.