At a press conference in Strasbourg following a European Parliament (EP) debate on Tuesday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that every value can and must be open to debate.
The EP debate centred on two issues: the Hungarian government’s standpoints on migration and the death penalty. A number of speakers accused the Hungarian prime minister of opposing basic European values.
In reply to a journalist’s question on whether Mr. Orbán finds is necessary to hold debates on basic values, the Prime Minister answered in the affirmative; he pointed out that at different times and in different situations political leaders sometimes come to completely different conclusions, even though the principles and values they refer to are the same.
At the press conference the Prime Minister highlighted that, although officially the EP debate was about Hungary, as a result of the event the first steps have been taken towards tackling a European issue of huge importance: migration.
“A debate has been started in the EU on migration, which gives us hope of success”, he said. He said he believed that the European Commission’s proposal on the introduction of refugee quotas in order to regulate refugee intake would only increase migration to the EU, and called it a political mistake which could have irreversible consequences for the entire continent.
According to the Prime Minister, until now the debate within Europe has mixed together the issues of refugees, economic migrants and guest workers, but we must handle them separately and introduce specific regulations for each of them. He declared that, in addition to questions of human rights, the issues which must be addressed are economic, demographic and cultural.
Mr. Orbán reiterated that if Hungary were to decide independently on how to regulate migration, the problem would disappear. He also mentioned that in 2012 the EU prohibited Hungary from taking into custody people who call themselves refugees and who have crossed the Hungarian border illegally.
The Prime Minister said that the differences in views are not only dependent on party affiliation: there are various opinions within the European People’s Party (EPP), for instance. In reply to a question from the MTI news agency he admitted that, compared to similar previous EP debates, this time there had been more criticism from the EPP. He said, however, that he believed this was partly due to the fact that the true essence of the wording in the national consultation questionnaire on migration is very difficult to convey in other languages.
The other source of criticism can be traced back to the fact that within the EPP family of parties some are more radical and some are more moderate; this large family is not easy to hold together, the Prime Minister said, adding that he would attend an EPP group meeting following the press conference.
In answer to a question from the online news site Pesti Srácok, the Prime Minister described the European Commission’s appointment of Altus – the company of Hungarian opposition politician Ferenc Gyurcsány – as scandalous. He added that he was also considering addressing this issue.
Mr. Orbán said that he has seen much during the history of the European Union, but nothing like this scandal which the European Union has involved itself in.
“There can be no doubt that this is nothing but the provision of EU funds – in the guise of a business contract – to a company which is obviously also using them for party political purposes”, Mr. Orbán said. He added that the issue has a Hungarian dimension, which will be settled back home, but it also has a European dimension.
The Prime Minister said that “The European Union already has enough problems, and citizens have enough reason to criticize the EU”, adding that he does not understand why it is necessary to add to the burdens by creating a European financial scandal related to party funding.
The press release is available in English in the attached file.