Viktor Orban Lashes out on the Radio
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres released an official statement on January 25 arguing that migration provides “true opportunities, reinforces economic growth, reduces inequalities, and connects different societies,” reported Daily News Hungary. Speaking on February 2 on state-run Kossuth Radio, the Budapest Beacon reports that right-leaning Hungarian President Viktor Orban said that he will “inspect the text” before choosing whether to reject or accept the Guterres’ claim. Daily News Hungary reported that Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Sijjarto commented that “the government rejects the UN secretary-general’s statement on migration because, according to Hungary’s standpoint, migration must be stopped, not supported.” Sijjarto went on to say that he found it “shocking that the secretary general is voicing a clearly positive opinion with relation to migration without the backing of a consensus on the part of UN member states and with relation to which several member states represent an opposite standpoint.”
Later in the radio interview, Orban also spoke positively about the change of government in Austria, the Budapest Beacon reports. He believes that a new right-wing government will not be anti-Hungarian as those in the past and treat Hungary more favorably. Orban contradicted previous public statements and stated his support for preserving the family allowance for Hungarians working in Austria, according to the Budapest Beacon.
Orban will seek reelection for a third consecutive term on April 8 and stepped up his rhetoric on immigration in response, hoping to continue to ride the populist wave in Europe. In particular, his government has repeatedly associated these United Nations resolutions with the U.S. financier and Hungarian George Soros. Continuing to quote Sijjarto, Daily News Hungary reported that he attacked the UN secretary-general’s statement as “George Soros’s plan.” Orban has planned since 2017 to make resistance to Soros’s agenda a campaign issue, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, and has repeatedly stated that, in his mind, if Soros’s ideas are allowed to spring to fruition, Hungary