BUDAPEST, Hungary (Sept. 8) – Europe’s interests as defined by the liberal left technocrats of Brussels are not always necessarily those of a member state like Hungary. That’s why MEP György Schöpflin, a member of the governing Fidesz party, is happy to stand up for his country when it comes to the migrant invasion now convulsing the region.
He told Breitbart London he believes that Hungary is a Christian country that is not anti-immigration but wants to see EU rules enforced to prevent welfare shopping by migrants. He thinks uncontrolled migration has no ‘end game’ and as long as anyone just can pass through Hungary on the way the way to Germany then everyone stands to lose.
As Breitbart London has reported, Mr Schöpflin told Sky News that some of refugees who swamped Budapest’s main railway station last week were not as desperate as media outlets portrayed. Mr Schöpflin doubled down on his comments:
“It is very fashionable at the moment to pick on Hungary. Most of the international media seem to being doing it because we are seen as a small country, an uppity country if you like, that dares to stand up and speak up.
“Well, we will keep on doing it. As long as we see economic migrants not refugees on our doorstep from Syria, Iraq and a host of other nations in the Middle East who in many cases seem better off than some of our own, well, of course we will call it for what it is.
“Europe is witnessing a flood of economic migrants, so many are young men who appear well fed, well dressed and clutching iPhones and nobody is prepared to act, stopping it at its source.”
Of course ‘stopping at its source’ would mean countries like Italy and Greece enforcing the Dublin Agreement which means that any new landed migrant must be immediately processed on landfall. That prevents on-travel of the kind that has seen tens of thousands of migrants pass through Macedonia and Serbia and then Hungary’s capital Budapest on the way to Germany.
Even better, those already living in peace and security in Turkey, safe from the persecution they claim, would not have to make a hazardous journey with people smugglers across the Mediterranean and all the risks that involves. He continued:
“Turkey is a Muslim country and it can play host to migrants, it would seem a much more natural destination. As long as it doesn’t step up, we will see things like the fence Hungary is building along the border with Serbia, we will see awful scenes that offend us all, mass drownings and sorrow on a scale we should not be witnessing.
“So let’s stop kidding ourselves into thinking this will end overnight by a few countries agreeing to take migrants while at the same time trying to bully Hungary.”
Although Hungary might feel isolated, Mr Schöpflin points out that Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have sided with Hungary in rejecting EU plans for migrant quotas while expressing solidarity for its plight.
Hungary might feel alone but clearly it has support within Central Europe itself.
Follow Simon Kent on Twitter: Follow @SunSimonKent or e-mail to: skent@breitbart.com