“Hungary rejects the ‘unfounded and politically motivated slanders’ of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Press Chief told Hungarian news agency MTI on Friday.
In his statement, Tamás Menczer reacted to a report published on Friday by the FIDH according to which the rule of law and the fundamental principles of human rights have been under sustained attack in Hungary since Prime Minister Viktor Orbán took power in 2010, and accordingly a strong and prompt reaction is required on the part of the European Union. The 84-page document warns: The Hungarian Government is undermining the democratic system of checks and balances by having “increased its control of the media, limited freedom of information and deactivated the constitutional court”. The FIDH also states that the infringement of the rights of migrants and asylum-seekers and the anti-migrant campaign the Government has been running since 2015 “testifies to a continued defiance by Hungary of its obligations under international and European law”.
The Ministry’s Press Chief stressed: Viktor Orbán was elected as Prime Minister of Hungary twice at Hungary’s democratic elections and everyone must respect the decision of the Hungarian people. During the past six years the Orbán Government “has succeeded in putting Hungary back onto a growth trajectory, the budget deficit is low, government debt is falling, the rate of unemployment has been halved, wages have increased, inflation is low and exports have broken all previous records; Hungary is gaining strength”.
“Hungary is protecting its own border, which is also the external border of the Schengen Zone, against unsupervised and uncontrolled immigration in accordance with both Hungarian and international law”, he wrote, adding that mass illegal immigration increases crime and the threat of terrorism, and endangers the country’s culture.
He also mentioned that 3.3 million Hungarians had “voted no to illegal immigration in the most democratic way possible, via a public referendum”.
The Hungarian Government is protecting the security, interests and rights of the people of Hungary, even if “this is something that certain international organisations that call themselves defenders of human rights are not happy about”, the statement reads.
In closing, Mr. Menczer said the fact that the organisation is calling for the suspension of Hungary’s EU voting rights “clearly indicates just how ridiculous the criticism put forward by the organisation is”.