Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban is known for sometimes harsh statements. Now he uses openly racist language. He also has an opinion on the Russia course.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sees the West’s strategy against Russia as a failure. “We’re sitting in a car with four punctured tires,” the right-wing politician said on Saturday in front of thousands of supporters in the Romanian resort of Baile Tusnad. “The sanctions do not shake Russia,” he said. In Europe, “governments would fall like dominoes”. He mentioned the developments in Italy, Great Britain, Bulgaria and Estonia – which in fact took place for very different reasons.
Before the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the West ignored Moscow’s security claims, Orban criticized. “With US President (Donald) Trump and German Chancellor (Angela) Merkel, this war would never have happened,” he said – apparently guided by the assessment that these politicians – like himself – would have stood for a more pro-Russian policy.
Hungary has been a member of NATO since 1999 and of the EU since 2004. So far, Orban has supported the Union’s sanctions policy, but forced an exemption for Russian oil imports with a veto threat. Orban still maintains a very good relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. One must negotiate with Moscow and not arm Ukraine, he said in his speech.
Orban has governed since 2010. He is accused of undermining democracy and the rule of law, which is why he is also in conflict with the EU. Several procedures are currently underway against Hungary, including one under the new Rule of Law Mechanism, which could lead to the withdrawal of EU funding.
Hungary also suffered several defeats before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) because of Orban’s repressive asylum policy. In his speech, Orban insisted on protecting Europe from the onslaught of “Islamic civilization” with border fences and deportations. In addition to this Islamophobic statement, Orban also used openly racist vocabulary and arguments in his speech.
“There is a world in which the peoples of Europe mix with those who come from outside Europe,” he said. “This is a mixed-race world.” On the other hand, there is the Carpathian Basin, where European peoples such as Hungarians, Romanians, Slovaks and others mixed with each other. “We are ready to mix with each other, but we don’t want to become multiracial,” Orban stressed.
The concept used by the National Socialists, among others, that there are different human races is scientifically untenable and is part of racist worldviews. This ideology wrongly ascribes characteristics to whole groups of people based on physical differences such as skin color.
Orban performed in the Romanian town of Baile Tusnad (Hungarian: Tusnadfürdö), which is located in a compact Hungarian settlement area in Transylvania. Until 1918 the region had belonged to Hungary. The Fidesz party has held a summer academy there for more than three decades. Orban, who is a Fidesz co-founder, traditionally gives the closing speech there. At first, Romanian nationalists tried to disrupt Orban’s speech. They shouted: “Transylvania will remain Romanian soil forever!” The Romanian police took them away.
