Budapest (AFP) - Mass migration threatens European civilisation, Hungary's controversial Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Tuesday.

"Today mass migration is taking place around the globe that could change the face of Europe's civilisation. If that happens, that is irreversible," Orban said at a conference in honour of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who recently turned 85.

"There is no way back from a multicultural Europe. Neither to a Christian Europe, nor to the world of national cultures," Orban added.

He insisted that migration needs to be addressed seriously.

"If we make a mistake now, it will be forever," Orban, 52, said.

Orban was recently criticised for a questionnaire sent out to Hungarian citizens that linked migrants and asylum seekers with terrorism, which EU Commission vice president Frans Timmersmans slammed as "malicious and wrong".

Orban is a fierce opponent of the migration plan put forward by the Commission to evenly distribute asylum seekers among member states, a policy which he called "mad and unfair".

European leaders will discuss the plan at their June 25-26 summit in Brussels.