In a wide-ranging interview the Prime Minister outlined his thoughts on for  Europe’s current situation :  first and foremost the need for consolidation of its external borders in order to strengthen security and save the Schengen Agreement; but also a new EU constitutional convention strengthening  the power of nation states and weakening Brussels, and normalised relations with Russia.

 

The Hungarian prime minister said that there is an “overwhelming logical connection” between terrorism and the movement of Muslims into Europe  over recent decades – but especially in the last few months. To him and many Europeans this is “an obvious fact, whether you like it or not”, but he expressed the view that the majority of leaders in the West deny this fact. 

 

That denial of the “obvious” is destabilising European politics by widening the gap between European leaders and the people, Mr. Orbán added.

 

The Prime Minister said that, after the Paris attacks, the number one job is to defend the borders and to control who is coming in. He pointed out that NATO and EU countries are “at war” with Islamists in the Middle East and Afghanistan. 

 

Following from this, he said, that “it’s quite logical” that enemies would seek to send fighters with migrants coming into Europe.

 

Politico quoted the Prime Minister as saying that “We criticise the EU and NATO because they are far from perfect, but the starting attitude of the Hungarians to Western institutions is always positive”. 

 

Mr. Orbán said that he does not presume to tell Western European countries such as Belgium and France how to deal with the offspring of Muslim migrants who, in his words, belong to “parallel societies”, holding EU passports but rejecting Western values. At the same time, he stressed that while there is increasing demand for rethinking open borders, and five Western-European countries are already holding preliminary talks about a more limited “mini-Schengen zone”, the best way to silence the voices calling for the suspension or  elimination of  Schengen is to strengthen its external borders.

 

Politico’s reporter, Matthew Kaminski, said that the Hungarian Prime Minister has himself played a part in blocking the European Commission’s plan to distribute migrants through mandatory quotas. In this context, Mr. Kaminski quoted the Prime Minister as saying: “If I do not agree with them, they say, ‘You are not a democrat, you are not a good man, you belong to the bad guys’”. 

 

After a year of troubles –  from Greece to migration, and from terrorism to a possible Brexit  – the Hungarian people are calling for a wholesale rethink of the  EU, he added. The Prime Minister took the view that the EU is only “reacting, reacting, crisis after crisis”, instead of having a concept.

According to Politico, Mr. Orbán is widely seen in Western Europe as a leader who has turned  his back on “liberal democracy” and embraced Russian President Vladimir Putin. In response, Mr. Orbán stressed that Hungary’s place is in the West. The portal says that he does not see himself as “the populist provocateur of EU media lore”. 

 

The basic character of all politics is cooperation, not confrontation, Mr. Orbán said. “We cooperate. We confront when it is necessary, not because we enjoy it”, he pointed out. 

 

Regarding Hungary’s relations with Russia and what Politico described as his friendly relationship with Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister said that “Without the Russians it is impossible to manage rightly the future of the Hungarians. So we have to have a good balanced relationship with the Russians.”

 

Mr. Orbán pointed out that he has no personal warm feelings for Mr. Putin, but added that, if he did like the Russian president, he would not deny it just to please Western opinion.

 

Mr. Putin is someone you can cooperate with, he pointed out, adding that “He is not an easy man […] He is not a man who has a known personality, so do not imagine him as you like to imagine Western leaders”, the Prime Minister is quoted as saying.

 

“With Russia, any country can have only a “power policy based on reality”, the Prime Minister highlighted, taking the view that if you would like to have a relationship with the Russians based on principles, it will never work.

 

European and Russian principles are “impossible to harmonise”, the Prime Minister pointed out. In his view, the essence of the Hungarian approach is that you must put aside principles and ideologies, and must concentrate on interests.

 

According to Politico, in the interview Mr. Orbán stated that the Russia relationship helps him develop balanced relations with Germany. “We would not like to depend on the Germans”, the news portal quoted the Prime Minister as saying. In Mr. Orbán’s view, it is easier to work with German Chancellor Angela Merkel  than with Mr. Putin. 

 

“With Merkel we have a principle-based policy. So if you agree on certain principles, it is easy to manage the reality. Just the opposite with Putin”, Politico quoted him as saying. 

 

MTI, Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister