Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said that the text of the United Nations’ draft treaty on migration, which is currently under development, looks like it has been copied from the Soros Plan.
Speaking on Kossuth Radio’s “180 Minutes” programme on Friday morning, Mr. Orbán said that the UN is valuable, but it must not be allowed to define principles that are contrary to Hungary’s interests. Meanwhile the information currently available suggests that what the UN is currently preparing in relation to migration runs counter to Hungary’s interests.
He explained that The UN is articulating principles that, for instance, would lead to a reduction in the penalties for illegally crossing borders, and the simplification and acceleration of administrative procedures. The latter means that the UN is urging countries to apply fewer checks on foreigners who want to gain entry.
The Prime Minister went on to say that the UN has also suggested that non-governmental organisations should take part in managing migration. Mr. Orbán’s response to this was “God save Hungary from that!”
“Hungary has had bad experiences with NGOs, and the bogus civil society organisations involved with migration are eating out of George Soros’s hand”, the Prime Minister noted. He said that the spirit of those parts of the UN’s planned migration scheme that have been made public look exactly as if they have been copied from the Soros Plan.
Mr. Orbán stated that as soon as the draft UN text has been made public, the Hungarian cabinet will examine the document and then decide how it should receive it. He called for “restraint, self-control, composure and calm”. Although he observed that the Unites States’ withdrawal from the series of talks on the treaty is a cause for concern, he also stressed that he will examine the issue solely from the perspective of the Hungarian people, regardless of America’s decision.
Mr. Orbán also said that he sees the formation of “an alliance of countries that stand on a bedrock of common sense”, which is asking what will become of the world if migration is acknowledged as a fundamental human right, and the UN sees it as its duty to organise “a flow of people here and there” across the globe.
He stated that this would mean extreme danger for many countries, and he cited Australia, New Zealand and Japan as “good examples” of countries that practice “tough immigration policies”. Neither, he noted, would the countries of the Visegrád Group want there to be globally recognised documents which could be used to argue for action counter to national interests.
Assessing his visit to Vienna on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said that in earlier years there were anti-Hungarian governments in Austria, but that new winds are blowing and the signs are that the country will have an equitable, fair and Hungary-friendly administration. Conflicts remain, he added, but now the approach is more geared towards building on the positive traditions of historical experience.
Among topics on which the two countries are in full agreement, the Prime Minister mentioned cooperation on security and border protection. He said that such cooperation will continue to be required in the future, because Austria and Hungary can only be protected together. He explained that “We still do not know whether Italy will be able to remain a member of the Schengen Agreement: whether it will be able to protect its borders […] So Austria might also easily come to play a key role in maintaining the Schengen system”.
Among disputed issues, he mentioned family allowances in Austria, which affect tens of thousands of Hungarians. They work in Austria and they pay their social security contributions just like Austrians do, the Prime Minister said, but despite this Austria plans to introduce regulations that would result in Hungarians receiving lower family allowance sums than those paid to Austrian citizens.
Mr. Orbán said that Hungary sees this as discrimination against Hungarians, adding however that this is not an Austrian-Hungarian dispute, but one about the interpretation of European law, which will be decided on by the European Court of Justice.
Mr. Orbán was asked about his meeting with Archbishop of Vienna Christoph Schönborn, and one of that meeting’s main topics: the persecution of Christians. The Prime Minister said that the Muslim world is a colourful one, and “we would like the indigenous Christian community to remain a valuable patch of colour in that mixed world”.
By contrast, he continued, Europe has always been a continent with a Christian culture; but by letting in huge numbers of Muslims a mixed population is being established, the European way of life founded on Christian culture is being endangered, and “the feeling of being at home is beginning to disappear”.
This feeling is already extremely strong in Western Europe, he said, and “we do not want Hungary to suffer the same fate”. Accordingly, the Prime Minister said he believes in the soundness of a policy that protects Christian culture in Europe, but also stands up for the continued existence of indigenous Christian communities to the south of the continent.
The Prime Minister also said that the European Union has lost sight of its former strategy, noting that goals relating to the joint European currency, a free trade zone “from Lisbon to Vladivostok” and technological development have “disappeared from the horizon”. Accordingly, Mr. Orbán said he believes the EU must find new goals, otherwise there will be nothing to keep Member States together.
In relation to last week’s V4 summit, Mr. Orbán spoke about a proposal to establish a so-called “Visegrád Development Bank”. He said that the Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš had convinced the countries of the Visegrád Group that they must first develop major joint economic projects, and a bank of this kind can be established if it emerges that such projects require such a financial institution.
Among possible major projects, the Prime Minister mentioned developing North-South infrastructure links such as a Budapest-Warsaw high-speed rail line and motorways.