People have the right to information about “what Brussels is up to”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public radio in an interview on Friday.
The issue of migration “is at stake in the European parliamentary election”, Orbán said.
The government’s recent billboard campaign will bring it home to Hungarians what means Brussels plans to employ to promote migration, he said, vowing to “expose the plans of Brussels bureaucrats”.
“Against Lies, There’s Not Much You Can Do”: Eu Officials React to Govt’s New Campaign
The European Parliament’s current “pro-migration” majority seeks to boost migration, “which would be equal to Europe being taken away from Europeans”, the prime minister said.
He insisted that Brussels does not provide Europe’s nation states with any kind of aid to protect their external borders but “advocates schemes to import migrants into the EU within a legal framework”. EU leaders, including European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, “constantly talk about making legal migration to Europe possible,” Orbán said, adding that the EP has taken “several pro-migration decisions” aimed at “giving many billions of forints to civil organisations that promote migration”.
Orbán said that plans to extend Frontex were fine in principle but the devil, he added, was in the detail. Under the related plans, the whole of Europe would be protected by 10,000 people, while control along Hungary’s southern borders alone required 8,000 armed guards.
Europe was not up to the task of establishing a border force able to protect the external borders along their entire length, Orban said, insisting that the borders could not be protected without the participation of member states. He mentioned Hungary’s request to the EU for reimbursement of “at least half” of the country’s border control costs, noting that the EU “hasn’t given a cent despite pledges”.
‘Hungarians Deserve Facts not Fiction’: EC Responds to Government’s New ‘Info Campaign’
In defence of the government’s recent billboard campaign, Orbán said “all seven points are supported by facts”. “Brussels has not contested actual facts”. He welcomed a decision by the European People’s Party to hold a special group meeting to discuss the government’s billboard campaign. “Great, it’s really good because we can at least discuss the seven points that we think are real, while they just argue … Let’s go for it; we are ready.”
Orbán said “Europe’s elite is no longer accustomed to being criticised”. Europe’s institutions, he added, were responsible for Brexit and for allowing “millions of migrants” to enter Europe. New leaders must be elected in the upcoming European elections “who won’t make the same mistakes of the past five years”. “We cannot sweep those mistakes under the carpet; there is no carpet big enough that would cover those two massive mistakes alone.”
featured photo illustration by Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI