“We
cannot pretend any longer that the great tide of migrants is
something that we want and that we are conducting a well-thought out
policy,” Tusk added. “We have lost our ability to control our
borders … but on the other hand we cannot give into populism and
xenophobia.”
‘We
are in deep trouble’
Orbán
stares down Merkel on migration, calls Europe ‘rich and weak.’
By RYAN HEATH
10/22/15, 6:00 PM CET Updated 10/23/15, 5:39 PM CET
MADRID — Hungarian
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán faced down German Chancellor Angela
Merkel ahead of a key migration conference this weekend, using his
most explosive arguments yet to rally his center-right political
allies behind a tougher response to Europe’s refugee crisis.
“We are in deep
trouble,” Orbán said in remarks to the European People’s Party
annual congress here, building on comments he had made Wednesday
night on Hungarian television. “This is an uncontrolled and
unregulated process,” one that threatens democracy because
governments did not “get authorization from (citizens) for millions
to walk into our continent.”
To loud applause
from conservative politicians from across Europe, Orbán slammed
politicians on both the left and right. He accused left-wing
political parties of “importing future leftist voters to Europe”
while trying to “hide it behind humanism.”
Orbán has played an
outsized role in setting Europe’s migration policy agenda in recent
months, pulling the continent to the right with his decisions to
build border fences, deploy armed forces and order the strip
searching of migrants. His approach has divided the European People’s
Party, as it struggles to contain the differences emerging between
governments that stretch from Germany to Hungary.
Orbán suggested
Merkel and other politicians were creating chaos by not upholding EU
laws and encouraging refugees to push beyond the first safe country
they reach.
“Free choice of
host country is not included in international law,” he said.
In a separate speech
to the EPP members, Merkel hit back at Orban, saying Germany’s
generosity does not preclude border security.
“We insist on the
territorial integrity of all countries in Europe. That is the basis
of peaceful coexistence and we cannot make any compromises on that,”
Merkel said.
Orbán argued the
current refugee flow is no longer an emergency, but an “unlimited
supply of people” on the move towards Europe that includes millions
from Africa and “foreign fighters,” and European life was not
open to them.
“The German,
Hungarian or Austrian way of life is not a basic right of all people
on earth,” Orbán said. “It is only a right for those people who
have contributed to it. We have to help them get back their own
lives, with dignity, and we have to send them back to their own
countries.”
While insisting
these were not anti-Muslim views (“the Muslim faith is not
responsible for this mass migration”) Orbán said: “We have
heartfelt compassion for the people who left their homes. They are
victims … but considering them victims does not mean we must make
ourselves victims.”
Orbán accused
Europe of showing a weak hand in current negotiations with Turkey and
in dealing with the fall-out of conflict in Syria.
“Europe is
currently rich and weak,” Orbán said. “This is a dangerous mix.”
“If based on the
lack of our own power we expect the solution from Turkey, we are
exposed,” he said. “This is the current situation of Europe. To
avoid that we have to protect our borders. If we can’t do it in
Greece … we have to do it at the western gate of the Balkans:
Hungary.”
Merkel rejected
Orbán’s arguments on Turkey. “(Turkey) tell us you are a rich
European union and we have been hosting 2.5 million people for years.
For a rich European Union this is the right thing to do. We cannot
simply leave these people to our neighbors.”
Speaking between
Orbán and Merkel, European Council President Donald Tusk echoed some
of the Hungarian prime minister’s arguments, but sought to soften
the tone.
“Solidarity can no
longer be equivalent to naivety,” Tusk said. “We cannot abdicate
from our most important duties… the primary duty of public
authorities has always been to provide security to its own community
and protect its own borders.”
“We cannot pretend
any longer that the great tide of migrants is something that we want
and that we are conducting a well-thought out policy,” Tusk added.
“We have lost our ability to control our borders … but on the
other hand we cannot give into populism and xenophobia.”
Authors:
Ryan Heath
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