Told you so! Viktor Orbán says Germany finally sees migration drawbacks

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday that Germany at long last “woke up” to the adverse consequences of migration.

“Border protection has become a negative word in recent times, because everyone has had to let the migrants in — whoever stops them is the bad guy,” Orbán said during an interview on Hungarian state radio Friday morning. “Now Germany woke up: terrorism, crime, the social and financial burden of migrants who do not want to work, all these things are beginning to wake the Germans up.”

Orbán, the leader of Hungary’s illiberal government, has for years been a staunchly conservative voice advocating against migration into the EU; while the more migrant-friendly Germany has recently moved to tighten border controls as the center-left-led coalition government tries to counter a far-right surge.

“Even the chancellor woke up, so I said, ‘welcome to the club,’ because he is pushing for the borders to be protected,” Orbán said about German leader Olaf Scholz.

“There is only one step left for Western European leaders to take — and it’s not a particularly difficult one intellectually: If they say that borders must be protected, they should not punish those who protect them,” he added.

In June, the European Court of Justice fined Hungary €200 million for breaking the EU’s asylum laws and not implementing changes to its policy of detaining and deporting migrants at its borders.

“Hungary is being punished by Brussels with heavy financial penalties, because we are protecting the borders, while other states are urging us to protect the borders, and are even closing their borders themselves,” Orbán said, referring to the fine and Germany’s recent decision to temporarily introduce tighter controls at all its land borders to reduce undocumented migration.

“So it’s clearly not right — it’s a mess, it’s a shambles, it’s political chaos: the whole European Commission, the European legislature has created this situation,” he added.

Orbán argued that instead of being penalized, Hungary should be given financial support to protect its borders, referring to Budapest’s announcement Thursday that it was “ready” to file a lawsuit against the European Commission.