Zoltán Kovács, official spokesman for the office of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has said “left-wing and liberal politicians” in the European Union (EU) are attacking his country because they cannot accept its refusal to permit illegal immigrants to violate its borders en masse.

The prime minister’s spokesman was speaking to the Hungarian media following a “hearing” before the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), which he attended alongside Justice Minister László Trócsányi.

Kovács claimed politicians on the committee “who call themselves progressive” could not reconcile themselves to Hungary’s robust security stance, having been influenced by the complaints of groups funded by billionaire financier and open borders advocate George Soros,

Kovács described his interrogation by the European Parliament in more detail in a good-humoured but clearly exasperated post on ‘The Spokesman’s Blog’, titled “Putting the rights of illegals before the rights of European citizens is ‘insane’”:

“It’s not the first time I’ve had the honour of appearing at a hearing of this committee … And like so many other such occasions, it put on clear display the way liberal, European politicians and international organisations, who push an agenda supporting illegal immigration, join forces to criticise the Hungarian government for its pro-security response to migration.

“The attacks at yesterday’s hearing were no less vehement than before, despite the fact that Hungary has shown that our approach works,” he wrote, in an apparent reference to clear evidence from Frontex, the EU’s central border agency, that raising fences along previously unprotected borders has slashed illegal migration.

Putting rights of illegals before the rights of EU citizens is “insane” Latest on the blog https://t.co/55AEWmuFEC @abouthungary @EP_Justice — Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) February 28, 2017

“When we debate the issue of border security and illegal migration in a forum like this, it’s a bit like paying a visit to an elderly aunt. You know the one. You adore her, but in her old age she is ill-tempered and no longer thinks clearly. Unfortunately, poor, old Auntie Europe is not merely suffering from dementia, but she has fallen under some bad influences.”

In his recent state of the nation address, Prime Minister Orbán outlined his belief that “the lords of globalist politics” were using mass immigration as a tool to teach ordinary voters “a lesson” for going against them in the Brexit referendum and the U.S. presidential elections, with the intent being to “crush any will of the people that opposes the open society and liberal governance”.