Arriving in Brussels on Thursday for a two-day meeting of the heads of state and government of European Union Member States, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that European democracy has faltered, and therefore “we want to restore democracy in Europe”.
The Prime Minister underlined that European democracy has faltered because European leaders are not doing what the people expect them to do and what they clearly want.
The people want two things, he said: “one of them is robust border protection, to prevent the entry of any more migrants. The other thing they want is for us to transport back those migrants who are already here.”
The Prime Minister added that the task of the next few months will be the restoration of democracy, which must reach its conclusion in the European parliamentary elections in the first half of next year.
He said that the immediate question is whether in their meeting the European leaders will move in this direction, as proposals now on the table include the setting up of refugee camps outside the borders of the European Union. He stated that there is a chance for the talks in Brussels to move in the direction of rebuilding democracy.
“We are in the camp of democrats,” he said, adding that “The European solution means that we solve the problem on the basis of the most important European principle.”
Mr. Orbán stressed that Europe’s primary principle and value is democracy, and no European value can be represented in a non-democratic manner. In order to reach a European solution, democracy in the European Union must be rebuilt, the Prime Minister said, and Hungary is ready to take part in this.
In Brussels on Thursday afternoon a two-day EU summit began, in which the main items for discussion by the heads of state and government of the EU Member States have been identified as a common migration and refugee policy, the next multiannual financial framework, and economic and trade issues.