Orban: Hungary’s Border Policy Protects European Freedom

In a meeting with the Bavarian president and legislature, Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán claimed that the border controls in Hungary were protecting European freedom.

The meeting of Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán with Christian Social Union (CSU) leader and Germany government coalition parnter Horst Seehofer is the third between the pair since the start of the migrant crisis. Both leaders have been in agreement on issues during the crisis, advocating for tougher border controls and positive measures to tackle the massive flow of migrants.

In the latest meeting this week, Mr. Orbán defended the policies of his government and the outcome of the Hungarian referendum on the redistribution of migrants, reports Der Spiegel. Speaking to the Bavarian legislature, Mr. Orbán said that his government’s stance on mass migration was a positive move to defend the values of European civilisation.

Orbán compared the Hungarian policy with the opening of the border with Austria in 1989 that allowed Germans and others to flee the oppressive communist regime saying: “In 1989, we acted for the freedom of Europe and now we’re protecting this freedom.” He added: “I promise you that Hungary will also in the future always be on the side of European freedom.”

The Hungarian leader was invited to Bavaria by Mr. Seehofer to speak on the 60th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. The uprising was squashed by the Soviet Union who forced some 200,000 Hungarians to flee the country. Opponents to Orbán’s  migrant policies attempt to use this fact against his government though Hungarian government spokesman Zoltán Kovács has said the two issues are completely different.

Mr. Kovács, who spoke exclusively to Breitbart London earlier in October, wrote: “The border that the ‘56ers crossed was a political demarcation between two states that have had a close relationship for centuries” as opposed to the current migrants whose “culture…most definitely does not have that relationship with our Judeo-Christian culture”.

While opposition parties in Bavaria criticised the SCU leader for inviting Mr. Orbán, some calling the Hungarian Prime Minister the “destroyer of Europe” and an “autocrat”, the Bavarian president defended his actions saying, “there is no substitute for dialogue”.

Mr. Seehofer has been a constant thorn in the side of the German Chancellor on migration policies, even threatening to sue her in court over the inaction on securing the Bavarian border earlier this year.

After the disastrous regional election results in Mrs. Merkel’s home state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and in the German capital of Berlin, largely due to the rise of the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany party,  Seehofer has said he may not campaign with Merkel for the federal election next year.