Victor Orbán tells David Cameron his proposals must not be discriminatory and Hungarians should not be described as migrants in EU

Hungary’s prime minister has bluntly told David Cameron that Britain must alter its plan to ban EU citizens from claiming in-work benefits to avoid portraying workers as parasites.

In a sign of the strength of feeling in eastern and central Europe over the proposed ban, Viktor Orbán said Hungarians should not be described as migrants anywhere in the EU, and said Cameron’s EU reform proposals must not be discriminatory.

Orbán made his remarks at an upbeat press conference with his British counterpart in Budapest, in which he said he agreed with three out of the four reform proposals that Britain has tabled. His only disagreement is over the plan to ban EU workers from claiming in-work benefits for four years.

Orbán made it clear that Britain must avoid any sense that it is discriminating against EU citizens. Under current EU rules, they are entitled to claim tax credits in the same way as UK citizens.

“For us it is very important that we are not considered as migrants. Words matter here. Hungarian is a very culturally defined nation and language. It plays a very important role in our politics,” he said.

“So we would like to make it quite clear that we are not migrants into the UK. We are citizens of a state that belongs to the EU who can take jobs anywhere freely within the EU. This is only this right we take off.

“So we do not want to go to the UK and take away something from them. We do not want to be parasites … It is very important that those Hungarians who are working well and contribute to the British economy should get respect and should not suffer discrimination. Discrimination is not something we can accept.”

Orbán balanced his stance by saying that Hungary and the other Visegrad group countries – Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia – were confident of reaching an agreement with Britain on its welfare reform proposals.

This could involve imposing a residency test that would mean UK citizens would also be banned from claiming tax credits for the first four years of their working life.

“We are open to every reasonable suggestion which eliminates abuses in the field of social welfare benefits,” Orbán said. “We are also quite willing to consider the recommendation as to how, with regard to the very special British social benefit, how we could set up a system without any discrimination which would be acceptable for the Brits as well. In that we are going to be partners. We want to do this agreement not alone but together with the V4.”

His remarks about the need to consider the “very special British” system suggests that Cameron has had some success in explaining the political challenge posed by the UK’s universal benefits system. This means that benefits are available immediately to UK and EU citizens, unlike many other EU countries which have contributory systems.

Downing Street was delighted by Orbán’s utone. He had earlier taunted Cameron by saying he wholeheartedly agreed with his other three reform “baskets” which, he felt, did not go far enough.

These are the proposals to provide protections for non-eurozone members in the rules of the single market, promote greater competitiveness, and give the UK an opt-out from the EU’s historic commitment to create an ever closer union.

Cameron said he was willing to consider other proposals on welfare reform, but they would have to deal with the “artificial draw” of the UK’s non-contributory system.



