February 2nd, 2018
Pro-government commentators argue that Hungary has won a valuable ally in the new Austrian government in its feud with Brussels, while an alt-left blogger thinks the Prime Minister will leave Hungarian guest-workers in the lurch as Austria plans to cut their family allowances.
On Pesti Srácok, Hunor Hoppál describes both PM Orbán and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria as pioneers of national sovereignty in Europe. He interprets their meeting in Vienna on Tuesday as a message to governments that they cannot ignore the popular will forever. ‘The age of compulsive adaptation to the Brussels elite is over’, he writes, and ‘the future belongs to politicians acting in the interest of the people’.
Magyar Hírlap’s Mariann Őry sees it as a great novelty that on matters of illegal immigration, Mr Orbán has found a new and important ally in Mr Kurz. She admits that the two disagree on the use of nuclear power stations and on the planned reduction of family allowances for foreigners in Austria whose children reside abroad (in their countries of origin). Nevertheless, she finds it encouraging that Mr Kurz is fairly resistant to the expectations of political correctness and his coalition partner (the Freedom Party) has never conformed to it.
By contrast, Mérce’s Gáspár Papp accuses the government of not intending to protect tens of thousands of Hungarians who work in Austria, and who are targeted by a plan to reduce welfare spending on foreign employees. He suspects that in exchange for support on immigration issues, Mr. Orbán will fail to stand up for the interests of his countrymen working in Austria. (PM Orbán told the press he hoped that divergences on nuclear power stations and foreign workers’ family allowances would not impair good relations between the two governments. He said the welfare issue should be tackled on a European level.)
Tags: Kurz, Orbán, Paks
