Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has labelled the European Union’s mass migration-friendly policies as being one of the two gravest mistakes made by the political bloc going into 2020.
The Hungarian leader made his comments earlier this week, stating that both mass migration and the current state of the eurozone economy would be major issues that the European Union member-states would have to deal with in the coming year, Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet reports.
“Every intelligent person knows that 2020 will be a difficult year for Europe. Two serious mistakes were made in Brussels. One was the admission of migrants and the other was the disruption of European economic policy,” Mr Orbán said.
“Immigration is a key issue for Europe. Not only today, this year or the next but for decades. It defines European politics and relations between European countries. In the Western countries to which they have been admitted, the Muslim population is growing year by year, and the Christian population is declining,” Orbán noted.
He went on to add that many pro-mass migration countries did not accept the Hungarian philosophy of restricting immigration and focusing on pro-family policies instead, saying, “Brussels is persistently attacking Hungarian legislation that guarantees the protection of our borders, while not giving a penny to our border fence.”
As part of Hungary’s 2019 pro-family budget, married couples are able to receive a 30,000 euro loan that is forgiven after the couple has three children.
The Hungarian leader mentioned the influence of Hungarian-American left-wing billionaire George Soros and his network of NGOs on EU migration policy, saying, “The Soros network is reaching the point where it wants to transform Europe into a mixed culture continent, possibly by eliminating nation-states. They will continue to push for this plan and will use all their tools.”
Fidesz, the party which Orbán leads, has led several campaigns against Soros, one of which led to complaints and the suspension of Fidesz from the European People’s Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament earlier in the year.
Orbán went on to note the achievements of the Hungarian government in recent years, stating, “Since 2010, the number of people experiencing severe material deprivation has decreased by one third. True, there are still hundreds of thousands, but I can also see how we will progress step by step.”