Orbán: Financial sanctions over migration policy ‘unthinkable’

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Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said it is “totally unthinkable” that Hungary would lose European Union funding or be fined for its governmentʼs policy on migration, responding to a question in his regular weekly interview on government-controlled Kossuth Radio, as reported by official state media.

(Photo: MTI/Szilárd Koszticsák)

“Threats of this kind have absolutely no legal basis within the EU legal system,” official government website kormany.hu quoted the prime minister as saying in response to a question about the possibility of penalties related to the governmentʼs stand on the EUʼs proposed mandatory refugee resettlement quotas.

“It is unlawful for Hungary to be fined for not wanting to accept immigrants,” he declared, adding - according to kormany.hu - that European leaders making statements of this kind are committing a crime.

The prime minister urged citizens to participate in an upcoming “National Consultation” on what the Hungarian government has repeatedly termed the “Soros Plan” to resettle migrants in Europe because in his view, by doing so they can help Hungary protect itself from immigration.

Speaking about funding, kormany.hu cited the prime minister as saying that he is unaware of any difference between Hungarian and EU funds, because “it is all our money.”

Referring to Hungarian contributions to the EU budget and the fact that Hungary has opened its markets to Western companies, he said that “we don’t receive a single cent from the EU as a gift, as we give something for every cent we get.”

“First of all, we donʼt just take, we also pay into the budget,” state news wire MTI quoted Orbán as saying. “Second of all, we opened up our borders, we opened up our markets. We gave such opportunities to Westerners - who were more developed than us - that they otherwise wouldnʼt have had. Itʼs all the Hungariansʼ money, regardless of the formality of its origin in Brussels or Budapest.”

Orbán observed that in the coming German elections the best result from a Hungarian perspective would be a victory for the incumbent German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as she is friendlier towards the Hungarians than the Social Democratic Party candidate Martin Schulz, who he said often speaks disrespectfully about Hungary.