Recent remarks by Péter Niedermüller, a Budapest opposition district mayor, are “racist, inflammatory and indefensible”, ruling Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch said on Wednesday.
Niedermüller said on TV recently: “If we look at what’s left after you peel away the objects of the haters such as non-Hungarians, the others, migrants, the Roma … a scary formation is left in the middle: white, Christian, heterosexual men — there also women among them. That’s their vision of a family.”
Demonstration to Follow DK Politician’s Comments on ‘White, Christian, Heterosexual Men’
Deutsch called Niedermüller’s remarks “the most serious scandal of recent times”, insisting that Niedermüller, who is the deputy leader of the Democratic Coalition (DK), “has launched an attack against the vast majority of Hungarians and Europeans”.
Deutsch said Niedermüller’s remarks were “offensive” and “stigmatising”, saying that labelling anyone on the basis of the colour of their skin, their religion or sexual orientation in Hungary and the rest of Europe in the 21st century was “unacceptable”.
He said Fidesz expected an explanation from the leaders of DK and party MEP Klára Dobrev, who is vice-president of the European Parliament, and sought to know whether they agreed with Niedermüller’s remarks.
Deutsch said his party would “defend the people attacked by Niedermüller” at a EP plenary session later in the day. “This is our moral duty.”
Meanwhile, István Hollik, the communications director of Fidesz, called on Niedermüller “to quit public life”. Hollik told journalists in Budapest that Niedermüller’s remarks could be interpreted as nothing other than “pure racism” and “hatred for family and Christians”.
Answering a question, Hollik said he will participate in a demonstration organised for Thursday to protest against the DK politician over his remarks.
In the featured photo: Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch. Photo by György Varga/MTI