Viktor Orbán: Migration debate in Europe is a ‘bloodbath’

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Tuesday described the debate on migration in Europe as a “bloodbath” as he called for tougher controls on people coming into the EU.

Orbán was speaking to the press in Strasbourg a day before he is due to address the European Parliament.

“I have been chest-deep in the bloodbath of the migration debate for quite some time,” he said. “Since 2015, I have been saying the same thing: we can try all kinds of pacts, but there is only one way to control migration — the external hotspot.

“Until we can agree that anyone who can enter the EU must stop at the external borders of the EU and until their application is positively assessed, we will never stop migration,” he said.

Orbán emphasized that if immigrants enter the EU to have their asylum claims processed, “they will never leave.”

“I don’t know of any government that would collect them and unload them, I don’t know of any. The only immigrants who stay out are the ones we don’t let in. That is why I have been called an idiot or […] evil since 2015. Not much of a choice. But in the end there will be agreement between states to have external hotspots,” Orbán said.

Orbán is scheduled to present the Hungarian EU Council presidency to the 720 EU lawmakers on Wednesday morning but decided to first meet the press to showcase his charge sheet against Brussels — and to brag about his achievements. 

“When we are in trouble, we need strong leaders,” Orbán said. “Hungary takes up this post from 1 July, the second time I have personally led this work. As I recall my first presidency, it was also a time of crisis — but the EU today is in a much more serious situation than it was in 2011.”