The European Commission needs a leader who respects the countries of Central Europe, Antal Rogán said.
On the programme Sunday Paper of Kossuth Radio, the head of the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister said electors entrusted the Hungarian government with stopping immigration; therefore, it is not possible to nominate persons for the top European positions who are clearly pro-immigration.
He indicated that Frans Timmermans, the lead candidate of the socialists and Manfred Weber, the candidate of the European People’s Party are clearly pro-immigration politicians. Additionally, in his statements Manfred Weber spoke about Hungary and the Hungarian people in an insulting tone several times when he said he does not want the votes of the Hungarian people.
The Hungarian politician took the view that Central Europe and Hungary in it clearly united forces, and did not allow the election of EU candidates who spoke about certain nations in a disparaging manner, and therefore they firmly vetoed the election of Timmermans and Weber.
“The European Commission cannot have a leader who did not have the support of the Central European countries, meaning the new Member States. This is a new development,” he pointed out. He said in the past 10 to 15 years the situation that the Western European Member States can impose their will on “the new Member States” has clearly changed. “Now Central Europe has had its voice heard.”
According to Mr Rogán, there is an enormous difference between Western and Central Europe. While Western Europe has already lived together with immigration for some time, from this respect Central Europe is different. The Central European countries wanted to elect a leader who does not want to impose his or her will on other countries, he said. In his view, with Timmermans and Weber the main problem was that they did not respect the Central European countries.
The head of the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister took the view that it is possible to advance trust to the new leaders. “The reason why it was possible to elect Ursula von der Leyen was that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke to the candidate by telephone, and asked her whether as President of the Commission she would be willing to show Hungary and the nations of Central Europe the respect they deserved. For this, in Mr Rogán’s words, we have received a promise.
The politician believes that the President of the European Commission need not comply with the wishes of any one country. The president of the commission must be a person who does not fight against European nations, but seeks to create a consensus and makes every effort to bridge any differences between different views and nations because there will always be debates, given that Europe is a Europe of nations, “and every nation must be respected,” he stated.
Mr Rogán took the view that the fact that in the European Council 27 of the 28 Member States voted for the candidate means that they will vote for the election of the candidate.