“With illegal migrants in Europe, antisemitism, violence against women and homophobia have increased”. This was stated by Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, during the press conference he held at the European Parliament in Strasbourg today. He gave a very broad talk on economic issues, in support of European agriculture, the defence policy, the enlargement to the Balkans (that he deems essential), the EU long-term budget that will have to be worked out in the next few months. “If Trump wins the election, we will open the champagne”, Orban said in reply to a question. About the war in Ukraine: “This war cannot be won on the battlefield. An immediate ceasefire is required, followed by negotiations” to put an end to the conflict “and save human lives”. Then, he added: “As to the war in Ukraine, the strategy we are following as EU is not effective”. Then, the
Magyar Prime Minister lingered on European politics again, complaining of the isolation created in the European institutions around the “Patriots”’ party. “But it is us, with ECR (Conservatives, editor’s note), who represent the citizens’ will. In the EU, we need to understand what people want and act accordingly. The Brussels bubble must change its mind; it is not an ideological matter, it is a matter of common sense”. Finally: “There is no European citizen. There is the Hungarian citizen, the French citizen, the Dutch citizen”. And hence he stated that the EU is “a union of states”, and as such it is not a federalist process.