Leo defends ‘secret’ visit to Hungary PM
‘Trip endorses migrant crackdown,’ says Opposition
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has defended his trip to meet the Hungarian prime minister after opposition parties accused him of ‘keeping it secret’.
Mr Varadkar visited Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán yesterday and will visit the Bulgarian Prime Minister today as part of his EU offensive in the midst of ongoing Brexit negotiations.
Mr Orbán has been criticised for his stance on migration, for a recent crackdown on foreignfunded non-governmental organisations, and for a controversial new education law which may cause the closure of billionaire George Soros’ Central European University.
The Labour Party said that Mr Varadkar’s visit would be seen as an ‘implicit endorsement by the Taoiseach and Ireland of the policies that Orbán’s government has pursued including his recent propaganda campaigns against Muslims, the EU, and also on George Soros that has verged on anti-semitism.’
But the Taoiseach last night hit back and said: ‘You could have a foreign policy that is about splendid isolation, or you could engage with people and find areas of common interest and not be afraid to raise issues where you don’t agree.’
Mr Varadkar said he would face criticism no matter where he went. ‘I’m certainly not the first person to visit Budapest, Enda Kenny was here a few years ago, David Cameron too,’ he said. ‘Hungary is a full member of the EU, the OECD, the UN. Prime Minister Orbán is a democratically elected leader and is a member of important institutions. It is always my view that the best way to deal with other countries is through engagement.
‘I know there will be other people who will probably say I shouldn’t meet the prime minister of Poland, or the prime minister of the Czech Republic or the new prime minister of Austria. I imagine if I met the Prime Minister of Spain, Sinn Féin would be criticising me about that because of Catalonia. Lots of the far left think I shouldn’t travel to America to speak to President Trump.’
The Taoiseach said that while they had a good conversation with points of agreement, they also disagreed on certain areas including migration and the Central European University.
‘Inevitably, there were items on which we did not agree. So we discussed the issue of migration, the migration crisis and we shared very different perspectives on that.
‘We believe every country should take a share of the refugees who are coming into Europe from war-torn countries. Hungary has a very different view on that. There is no alignment on that but we were able to share different perspectives.’
Mr Varadkar said he also raised issues about the new laws around NGOs, and ‘expressed the Government’s commitment to free speech and association and allowing NGOs to do that’.