Hungary: Germany Is Being ‘Rude’ About Refugee Policies

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he hopes Berlin's refugee policies work out for Germany, but Hungary's not interested.

By Siobhán O'Grady

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - FEBRUARY 08: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives at the headquarters of the Council of the European Union on February 8, 2013 in Brussels, Belgium. EU leaders have set out the framework for agreeing on a 2014-2020 EU budget during talks that continued through the night at the European Council Meetings in Brussels. The historic deal would see 34.4 billion Euros of EU spending cuts over the next 7 year period. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

February 25, 2016, 2:37 PM

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban built a wall to keep out asylum-seekers, sued the European Commission after it approved a quota system to distribute migrants throughout the continent, and defended his military’s use of tear gas and rubber bullets against refugees.

But in an interview published Thursday in German daily Bild, Orban said it’s Germany whose tone “is gruff, rude, and aggressive” when it comes to talking about mass migration to Europe.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has advocated for the controversial quota plan, which Hungary firmly opposes and claims could put the EU at risk of further terrorist attacks.

In Thursday’s interview, Orban said refugees from the Middle East threaten Hungary’s identity as a melting pot of Jewish and Christian values. He also accused them of importing “terrorism, crime, anti-semitism, and homophobia.”

He then pointed to the New Year’s Eve sexual assaults in Cologne, Germany, allegedly carried out by around 1,000 men of Arab and North African origin, as proof that what he describes as Berlin’s lax policies on refugees that invite such violence.

“The images from Cologne have deeply moved us Hungarians. I myself have four daughters,” Orban said. “I do not want my children to grow up in a world where something like Cologne can happen.”

Those attacks rattled the western German city and sparked protests from right-wingers who pointed to the assaults as evidence that Europe should stop accepting refugees from the Middle East. Juergen Mathies, Cologne’s police chief, said this week that he believes most of the perpetrators may never be caught.

But even if he doesn’t want more refugees arriving in Europe by way of Turkey, Orban is also embarrassed by what he described as the EU catering to Ankara’s demands to stem the flow of migrants.

“The EU is now going to the Turks like a beggar,” he said. “We are begging [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan — in return for money and promises — to secure our borders because we can’t protect them ourselves.”

Photo Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images