Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland have predicted a “year of great battles” with the EU establishment at a summit in Budapest.

“We don’t want to live in an empire. For us, the European Union is still the alliance of free European nations”, declared the veteran Orbán, who has been in office since 2010.

“The EU’s immigration policy is not working. What is more, it is not only not working but it has failed spectacularly,” he said.

“It’s clear that European people don’t want immigration, while some European leaders are still enforcing the failed immigration policy.

“The Hungarian standpoint is that we have to protect the borders [and] migration must be stopped. We shouldn’t bring migrants here, but we should bring the help where it’s needed,” he added, referring to his country’s ‘Hungary Helps’ programme of works to help people in the countries migrants typically originate from, particularly Christian minorities.

Conservative Revolution: Poland Promises New Model ‘Far From Socialism, and Equally Far From Neoliberalism’ https://t.co/ohxMCwc4UG — Jack Montgomery ن (@JackBMontgomery) December 27, 2017

Orbán also took the opportunity to thank Morawiecki’s government for providing support for the powerful border defences which were rapidly rolled out to protect Hungary’s frontiers during the migrant crisis, cutting illegal immigration by over 99 per cent.

“Countries must have the right to decide who they are taking and who they do not accept,” stressed the newly-appointed Polish leader, referring to the EU’s ongoing efforts to redistribute migrants across its member-states — including Poland and Hungary — through a system of compulsory quotas.

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The pair also welcomed the breakthrough victory of the conservative-nationalist coalition of Sebastian Kurz and Heinz-Christian Strache in Austria, which has pledged to reverse mass migration and tackle radical Islam and could prove a powerful new ally for the Visegrád Four.

“Democracy has been restored in Austria, because the Austrians, who don’t want immigration, elected a government which doesn’t want immigration either,” said the Hungarian leader.

“This will be the case everywhere in Europe. I’m convinced that this is just a question of time,” he added.

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