PM Orban: Issue of Migration a Key Question in April Election

Questions around migration will be in the focus of Hungary's next election in April. "Will we resist and rebel against Brussels' decision or Hungary's political parties give in to Brussels' pressure, accept its decision and allow migrants to enter te country from the West?" Prime Minister Viktor Orban told public media on his flight back from Istanbul, referring to new migration rules the European Union adopted earlier on Monday.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Photo: AFP)

He noted that Hungary would now not only have to protect itself from those coming from the south, but "they will be unleashed on us" from the west as well. "I have said earlier that the great question for the next generation will be how it can protect itself from the migrants who have entered Western Europe and who one day may head toward Hungary. In other words, how to protect Hungary’s western borders. This will not be easy and will put our children before a serious challenge, but that will be their task to tackle."

He explained that what we are seeing now is the first sign of this: "it is not migrants coming from Western Europe on their own accord, it is Brussels that has decided to send them here."

And if we do not take them in—we are talking about many hundreds of migrants—then we will have to pay,

he warned. He added that this is a new chapter, and regretted that there is no national concensus on the issue. "The Democratic Coalition and the Tisza Party have supported the EU's migration pact, that is they would give their consent to migrants being brought in from the West. This makes the election appear in a new light, it adds a new aspect," PM Orban said.

Concerning the actual migrant numbers and the amount Hungary could be fined PM  Orban said "the figures are chaotic but the European Commission always makes a decision on individual considerations regarding how many migrants must be taken in and when. I voted against the pact, Hungary did not support the pact, because we said precisely this would happen," he explained.

The EU will say there is a migration emergency—there has been one for years—and on that basis, this regulation grants them the right to decide. Thus, it will not be Hungary that decides whether it lets in or takes in migrants, but Brussels. And Brussels can enforce this with financial penalties," he emphasized. Viktor Orban stated:

This is why we said 'no' to the migration pact, and this is why I consider it a decision sharply opposed to Hungary's national interests that the Tisza and the Democratic Coalition supported this migration pact and have brought trouble upon us. We will resist.

Cover photo: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Photo: AFP)