Orban rails against ‘undemocratic’ Western Europe
BAILE TUSNAD, Romania: Hungary’s right-wing nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban railed against what he called “undemocratic” Western European states in a speech on Saturday sketching out his vision for the continent’s future.
“There is liberalism in the West, there is no democracy,” Orban said, speaking to a gathering of ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring Romania.
He claimed that in Western European countries, “restrictions on freedom of expression and censorship have become common place.” Orban also sharpened his criticisms of Brussels institutions, brandingtheEuropeanCommission a “symbol of failure.”
“The European Commission is going, we are coming,” he said.
In the latest of a series of disputes with Hungary over its migration policy and rule of law, last week the Commission referred Hungary to the European Court of Justice ( ECJ) over controversial laws penalising aid to migrants.
The Commission has also referred Hungary to the ECJ for failing to resolve complaints made in December 2015 that it held asylum seekers for too long in transit centres and did not treat them properly.
Orban also used the speech to outline his own definition of “Christian democracy”.
“If you like, it’s illiberal,” Orban said, emphasising that it was “antiimmigrant, anti-multicultural and stands for the Christian family model”. — AFP