In an interview with the Portuguese weekly Expresso, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that Hungary cannot be forced to accept migrants. He defended the Fundamental Law of Hungary and his government’s rejection of the plan for mandatory resettlement quotas, as well as construction of the fence on his country’s southern borders.
He added that his approach to the migrant situation is completely different from that of the European Commission, and that he does not believe that migration can solve demographic and economic difficulties.
Hungary is defending the EU on the Serbian, Croatian and Romanian borders, and thus enforcing the Schengen Agreement; yet still it is heavily criticised, Mr. Orbán said. He said that Hungary had tried to resolve the situation without a border fence, but migrants “did not accept” that solution, which is why Hungary had to resort to “walls”.
Speaking about the EU-Turkey deal, Mr. Orbán said that it is necessary and he supports any bilateral agreement with any state from which migrants might arrive in Europe. He added that paying the Turks is also a good decision, because they are not able to handle the migration pressure on their own.
According to the Prime Minister, migrants want to cross a number of safe countries in order to reach Germany, but international law does not allow for “á la carte” asylum provision, and people must accept refuge in the first safe country they arrive in. We must respect their dignity and provide them with protection, but this does not mean that they are free to decide where they want to go, Mr. Orbán pointed out.
Mr. Orbán said that the Schengen 2.0 proposal envisages all reception centres and refugee camps being outside the EU. For Hungary it is important to make the resettlement quotas voluntary. “We are sending money to the Turks and Hungarian border guards to Greece, and we are ready to do whatever it takes – apart from being part of the programme”, he emphasised.
He declared that all rules and laws must be adhered to. If someone wants to come to Hungary, they have to go to the official border crossing points and show their identification papers. Those who fail to do so are committing crimes, he added.
He said that there is a link between migrants and terrorism. Europe is at war with countries from which they are coming, with even Hungarian troops involved in conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although Hungarian forces are not present in Syria, other European countries are there. A proportion of the population of those countries consider Europeans to be enemies, whether we like it or not, the Prime Minister said. These people “seek vengeance” against European countries. They are able to use the migrant wave to achieve their goals, as the examples of terrorist attacks have also shown. Mr. Orbán declared that freedom of movement is the most important facet of the EU; this is why the external borders must be protected. “Those who are in favour of freedom of movement must support walls and border controls: this is the Hungarian standpoint”, he pointed out.
Mr. Orbán is not worried that the EU might sanction Hungary, because the EU is not the Soviet Union. He added that the Treaty on European Union states that all decisions on constitutional identity should be within the competency of Member States. Therefore, if a mandatory quota system is introduced, this regulation must be amended. “I consider that to be impossible, and so no one can force anything on us which the Hungarian people do not want”, the Prime Minister said. He said that he “can only smile” when some people call him an “autocrat”. He added that he does not agree with the assumption that the Fundamental Law of Hungary would undermine the competency of the Constitutional Court and put the National Assembly above the Supreme Court. In a democracy the highest power lies with the people, who elect the members of the National Assembly, who make decisions, he said. In Hungary – and every EU Member State – it is Parliament which elects the majority of court leaders, and there is nothing wrong in that, Mr. Orbán said. According to him, Christianity is a tradition which must be respected, because without it “we would not have survived the past one thousand years”.
“We believe that family forms the basis of a nation, and it must be protected. We make it clear that only one man and one woman can marry and start a family”. According to the Civil Code, homosexuals “may do whatever they want to, but they cannot enter into marriages recognised by the state”, Mr. Orbán said. “An apple cannot ask to be called a pear […] If a person lives with another and they do not want children, they are not preserving the thousand-year-old Hungarian tradition, according to which men and women marry. The definition of family is when a man and a woman live together, get married and have children. This is not an issue of human rights, but of calling a spade a spade”, the Prime Minister stated.
It has been four years since the Fundamental Law was adopted in Hungary, and the people are satisfied, he said. Nobody wants to change the rules, which shows that the Constitution is working well, Mr Orbán stated.