The European elite has lost touch with European reality, Government Spokesperson István Hollik said on the public service television news channel M1 on Tuesday.
At the same time, the Government Spokesperson finds it unacceptable that Europe does not respect the people’s opinion, and stigmatises parties and leaders who take a firm anti-immigration stance.
Mr Hollik said according to the European elite everything is fine as it is, and the problem of migration does not even exist. Hungary, however, takes the view that in Europe there is a problem with almost everything.
It is a problem, for instance, that Europe did not respond to the immigration crisis clearly, and the continent is continuously losing economic weight, he said.
He added that more and more European people believe that things are not going well in Europe; however, the European elite is not prepared to listen to the politicians who represent them.
The Hungarian government would like to initiate a debate because it firmly believes that European culture must be protected and migration must be stopped; however, instead of engaging in the debate, the European elite stigmatises and looks down on the country, he said.
He also highlighted that Europe said that we must live together with migration because the borders cannot be defended. Hungary, however, has proved that this is possible.
Regarding Freedom Party Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache’s Monday statement that Hungary protects the external borders in the spirit of the EU Treaties, he said that the rules of common sense have finally been given scope within the Austrian government.
The Government Spokesperson observed that earlier the social democratic government launched fierce attacks on the Hungarian government when it began to defend its borders. He added that two weeks later Austria introduced temporary border checks which have been in place ever since.
It would be good if the Schengen Area were reinforced and there was no need for such checks, Mr Hollik stressed.
He also said that in 1950 Pakistan had a population of 40 million; today it is 200 million, and in 20 to 30 years’ time it will be 400 million. They will be unable to provide fundamental state services for such a vast population, and therefore, sooner or later, people will start heading for Europe also from this region.
On Kossuth Radio’s programme ‘Good morning, Hungary’, the Government Spokesperson pointed out that immigration can be stopped. It only requires political will and determination which, in his view, the European elite does not have.
He took the view that the European elite had lost touch with European reality, but he hopes that the European parliamentary election at the end of May will be a sobering experience for them.