Dispute over PM Orbán’s role in EU politics
September 5th, 2018A left-wing analyst accuses PM Orbán of threatening the unity of the EU. A pro-government commentator, on the other hand, thinks that PM Orbán’s vision is increasingly accepted in the EU.
In Vasárnapi Hírek, János Avar accuses Prime Minister Orbán and Italian Interior Minister Salvini of declaring war on Europe as we know it, by criticizing pro-immigration EU politicians (see BudaPost August 31). The left-wing commentator thinks that Orbán and Salvini want to lead the nationalist parties of Europe in their battle with the integrationists led by German Chancellor Merkel and French President Macron. Avar hopes that voters will realize that ‘demagogues’ including Orbán and Salvini, are bigger threat to Europe than migration, and they will vote accordingly in the 2019 European Parliamentary election.
Magyar Idők’s Zsolt Bayer contends that PM Orbán is becoming an ever more important figure in European politics. The pro-government columnist recalls that German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in a recent interview acknowledged the failure of the migrant redistribution quota system, and also rejected the idea that the V4 countries, which reject immigration, should be punished by the withdrawal of EU funds. Bayer interprets all this as an acknowledgement that PM Orbán was right in his vision concerning migration.