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"A Christian politician cannot be racist" Hungarian PM tells the CPAC crowd
Viktor Orban, Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister, has traveled to Dallas to give an opening speech at CPAC Texas on Thursday. The Conservative Political Action Conference featured Orban after he sparked outrage with his comments against Europe becoming a 'mixed-race' society. After his controversial remarks, one of his closest advisors stated it was a 'pure Nazi' speech and resigned.
In his CPAC address, the Hungarian PM attacked the media, saying their coverage of him is 'fake news' due to the country's 'zero tolerance policies ' for racism and anti-Semitism. He also stated that a 'Christian politician cannot be racist', and that those who accuse him or his government of racism and anti-Semitism are “idiots”.
He also took aim at the Hungarian-born Jewish businessman and philanthropist George Soros, former President Barack Obama, and the Democratic Party.
“We are not the favorites of the American Democrats,” Orbán said. “They did not want me to be here, and they made every effort to drive a wedge between us. They hate me and slander me and my country as they hate you and slander you and America you stand for.
Orban quickly went on to the topic of immigration and said Hungary was the first European country to stop an 'invasion' of migrants. The Hungarian PM quoted Fox's Tucker Carlson saying, “We actually built that wall, and it stopped illegal migration. Tucker Carlson said, when he visited us, it is not a hi-tech wall but guarded by people who love their country, and the border protection system works.”
He also touched on family policies and called gender ideology 'toxic'. Orban proudly stated that the Hungarian constitution protects traditional marriage. "The mother is a woman. The father is a man. Leave our kids alone. Full stop. End of discussion!” he added.
Orban received a standing ovation from the CPAC crowd.
A day before his CPAC speech Orban met former US President Donald Trump at one of his luxury golf resorts in Bedminster.
After the meeting,
Trump released a statement saying
"Great spending time with my friend, Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary. We discussed many interesting topics—few people know as much about what is going on today. We were also celebrating his great electoral victory in April."
EP leaders condemn Orbán’s speech on 'racial purity'
EP political group leaders published a statement on Friday condemning the 'openly racist declarations' by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The statement stressed that these declarations are 'in breach of EU values'.
“We, the leaders of the Political Groups of the European Parliament, strongly condemn the recent openly racist declaration by Prime Minister Orbán about not wanting to become “peoples of mixed race”. Such unacceptable statements, which clearly constitute a breach of our values, also enshrined in the EU Treaties, have no place in our societies. (...) Racism and discrimination, in all forms, must be unequivocally condemned and effectively tackled at all levels," the statement reads. A spokesperson for the European Parliament said the declaration was adopted with a majority.
EP leaders also urged the European Commission and the European Council to condemn Orban's statement 'in the strongest terms'.
Numerous international politicians have also expressed outrage over the speech. “Racism is a poisonous political invention. There should be no place for it in Europe where our strength comes from diversity,” said European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans.
91% of Hungarians think corruption is widespread in their country
According to a new survey by Eurobarometer, the majority of Hungarians said corruption is widespread in their country. Compared to the EU average (68 percent), 91 percent of the responders in Hungary said corruption is a major issue.
61 percent of Hungarians stated that corruption has increased over the past three years, and they agreed that abuse of power for personal gain was widespread among politicians and government officials.
The only countries with a higher score were Cyprus, Croatia, and Greece.