“The Hungarian Government will not change its policies despite the pressure it is being put under; to us, Hungary comes first”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Tuesday.
In response to “a letter from foreign opinion leaders to Viktor Orbán”, the Minister said: “I would like to make it clear that the Hungarian Government has always stood on the foundations of law, whether with regard to stopping illegal immigration or the transparency of organisations that operate using foreign funding”.
“We regard it as unacceptable that organisations that operate using foreign monies want to interfere in Hungarian internal politics while operating in a non-transparent manner and without making public who funds them and who’s interests they represent”, he explained.
“These organisations “are spreading lies about Hungary and about border guards who are doing a fine job defending our country’, and behind these organisations is George Soros”, he added.
The Foreign Minister pointed out that in the United States, Republican Senators had asked the Secretary of State to launch an investigation into George Soros’s influence attempts. In Hungary, the new regulations planned by the governing parties requires significantly less from organisations that operate with foreign funding than the relative regulations that are still in force in the United States today, the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA).
“The people of Hungary have never given these organisations a mandate to represent them, while in contrast the Orbán Government was voted in twice in a row with large majorities, and accordingly the Hungarian people are represented by their elected government”, he pointed out.
“We reject all forms of stigmatisation”, the Hungarian Government does not represent western or eastern interests. The Hungarian Government represents the interests of the Hungarian people, “although we can clearly see that this is incomprehensible to many, because this is not what they were used to before”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted.
“We will defend the right of the Hungarian people to decide the future of Hungary against all comers; we have been living in the Carpathian Basin for a thousand years and have accumulated much experience during the course of our history. The Hungarian people have the wisdom to decide on their own fate”, the Minister said.
“We also do not need to be preached to with regard to knowing the difference between communism and democracy; Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian Government have somewhat more experience in this field than our western friends”, he said.
“We know and already knew that Hungary is under criticism because of illegal immigration and rejecting the mandatory resettlement quota, but the Hungarian Government will not change its policies despite the pressure being placed on it”, the Hungarian Foreign Minister highlighted. “To us, Hungary comes first”, the statement reads.