‘We do not intend to change the character of our country’
Hungary has the most populist government in Europe, winning elections on an anti-immigrant programme. Chief reporter Martin Shipton met the Hungarian ambassador in Cardiff
THE Hungarian Ambassador to the UK has defended his government’s refusal to accept refugees during a visit to Wales, rejecting allegations of racism and saying it is defending European values.
In April Viktor Orban, the country’s right-wing Prime Minister, was re-elected in a landslide victory on an anti-migrant programme.
Since the election, legislation has been passed which makes it a criminal offence to help someone seeking asylum – a move that has angered the European Commission, which is considering whether or not to impose sanctions on Hungary.
Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky is the country’s ambassador to the UK.
Asked to explain his government’s anti-immigrant stance, he said: “When this [Orban] government took over in 2010, it had an awful economic legacy which had to be taken care of. We were indebted to 86% of GDP and had to be bailed out by the IMF.
“We had 12% unemployment, negative growth and huge state budget deficits. A whole set of very important decisions had to be taken and then implemented.
“Our indebtedness is now down to 73%, our unemployment to 3.6%, which is leading Europe. The growth rate in this quarter is going to be 5%. The state budget deficit is down to 2%. A very important turnaround has taken place, therefore.”
The ambassador said the government’s chosen focus was “the protection of families” – part of which involves increasing the population without allowing significant migration. Achieving this entails cutting down on the number of divorces and abortions, which have reduced by 30%, and increasing the number of marriages.
A combination of financial subsidies and some legislative changes have helped, said the ambassador. More importantly, he thinks Orban’s leadership has been crucial in emphasising and supporting “traditional values” like bringing up children, with women staying at home to look after them.
The ambassador said: “When we modified our constitution, we made a point in the preamble to our fundamental law that we are there to protect our Christian culture. We think that Europe is based on traditional Judaeo-Christian values, and we continue to believe that this is fundamental for the future of Hungary. We think Europe should be a strong co-operation of strong nation states – and in that respect diversity is very important.”
However, it is made clear that accommodating refugees and migrants is not on the agenda.
The ambassador said: “Unhelpful, illegal immigration is not helpful.
“We often contradict the line of the EU. We think there is too much emphasis on what the Commission wants to do or think, whereas Europe should be, as the original founders imagined it, led by the European Council, which incorporates the elected Prime Ministers and heads of state who have the political mandate to set a political agenda. The Commission is there to be the guardian of the founding Treaty and not to set political agendas.
“We often face bureaucrats who seem to be there to create a European super-state, in which we are absolutely not interested.
“We would like to see a strong, stable EU, with strong member states who are led by the European Council, but not anything else.”
Asked whether the Hungarian people were opposed to immigration from Muslim countries, the ambassador said: “Hungary has a different tradition and history. We have not so far been a destination for any kind of immigration, let alone Muslim immigration. So we are still in a position to decide whether we want to be a destination for immigrants or not.
“And it has clearly been demonstrated by Hungarian voters that it is not their intention to become an immigrant country. They do not want to give up their identity. To the contrary, they want to protect it.
“We obey of course international rules and regulations. Under the current legislation of the EU there are people of Muslim faith who have entered Hungary in a small number, but we do not intend to change the character of our country.”
Asked if he thought the large number of immigrants of Islamic extraction was a problem for Europe generally, the ambassador said: “It is very important that Europe remains Europe. There are lots of people living in sad conditions in other parts of the world who eventually will veer towards Europe to seek a new home. But that can only happen by Europe giving up its own identity – and we do not like to see that. We’d like to keep our own identity.”
Asked whether the people of Hungary feared the kind of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism that has been seen in other countries, the ambassador said: “Of course. We also claim there is clear evidence of a correlation between illegal migration and terrorism. The people of Hungary are concerned about that and you see the awful examples of what happened unfortunately too frequently in other countries.”
Asked to respond to the suggestion that some may consider such comments racist, the ambassador said: “That’s one of those typical political stigmatising events which lack any kind of proper understanding of the situation. It’s a political trick to stigmatise the other and not listen to its arguments.
“We are anything but racist. We are there to build and protect an economic model. We are there to help our demography without immigration, and we are there to protect our identity and culture.”
Commenting on the prospect of the UK leaving the EU, the ambassador said: “From the moment of the referendum we took a very clear stance on Brexit. We regret very much that you are leaving the EU but we respect the decision. You were a very strong and important ally in many of the endeavours that we had in common for the future of Europe, and you will be greatly missed in important debates.”
During his visit to Cardiff, the ambassador invested Alun Davies, his country’s Honorary Consul to Wales, with the Order of Merit of Hungary.
He said: “We are extremely grateful to Alun. He has been very helpful not only during my tenure here, but during past tenures. He has helped numerous Hungarians in Wales with his great expertise, knowledge, and kindness. He has made a tremendous contribution to this bilateral relationship.”