Viktor Orbán: Europe is full, hence borders must be protected

Europe is full, which means that its borders must be protected, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told reporters in Parliament on Tuesday after talks with Manfred Weber, group leader of the European People’s Party.

Because of this, the Hungarian government will only back new regulations on migration that guarantee the protection of Europe’s borders, Orbán said.

This position is reflected in the proposals Hungary has submitted to the EU in connection with the amendment of the bloc’s asylum regulations, he said. Orbán added that the current regulations were centred more on the distribution of migrants.

“We shouldn’t be focusing on the distribution of migrants,” the prime minister said. “A mandatory quota is out of the question and instead we should be making sure that illegal migrants can’t enter Hungary and the European Union’s territory.”

Orbán said this view was gaining more and more traction in Europe.

On another subject, Orbán noted Weber’s position as a leading figure in the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) and that Germany recently swore in a new government. “It’s important for us that we maintain especially good relations with the Germans, and specifically the Bavarians,” Orbán said.

“It’s never been a secret that we consider the Bavarian people role models; we, too, want a country that is as strong and rich as Bavaria,” he said. “Right now it seems like this is far away, but we haven’t given up on this goal.”

Orbán expressed his congratulations to Weber on Horst Seehofer, outgoing Bavarian premier, becoming interior minister in the new German federal government. He said he expected that as a member of the German government, Seehofer “will always give Hungary the respect and recognition it deserves”.