Tuesday

26th Sep 2023

Orbán's 'racist' speech condemned, after week's delay

  • Hungary's prime minister Vitkor Orbán and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen at an earlier meeting on the recovery fund (Photo: European Commission)
Listen to article

Top EU officials have condemned Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán's speech for "openly racist" remarks — a week after the Hungarian premier delivered his traditional summer policy speech.

"All EU member states, including Hungary, signed up to common global values," EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told the Slovak news site aktuality.sk on Saturday (30 July).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

She added that "discriminating on the basis of race is to trample on those values", and that the EU is built on "equality, tolerance, justice and fair play," but without mentioning Orbán specifically.

In that speech, Orbán said that Hungarian do not want to be "mixed race", like many societies in Western Europe have become.

Over the weekend, leaders of the European Parliament's main political parties also issued a statement saying they "strongly condemn the recent openly-racist declaration".

The parties also called on the commission and the council of member states to condemn the statement.

The parties said member states should issue recommendations to Hungary under the Article 7 sanctions procedure, which has been going on for four years without tangible results.

The aim of the procedure is to see if a member states is breaking fundamental EU values and make sure the country corrects its path.

The parties also urged the EU executive not to release EU funds to Hungary under the Covid-19 recovery funds over rule-of-law concerns.

Government spokesman Zoltán Kovács said Orban's speech had been "misinterpreted" by those who "clearly don't understand the difference between the mixing of different ethnic groups that all originate in the Judeo-Christian cultural sphere, and the mixing of peoples from different civilisations", AFP reported.

Last Thursday, Orbán also said he was misunderstood.

"It happens sometimes that I speak in a way that can be misunderstood... the position that I represent is a cultural standpoint," Orban told reporters during a visit to Austria, where he was booed by protestors.

A longtime Orbán adviser resigned last Tuesday in the aftermath of the fallout from the prime minister's words, calling the speech "a pure Nazi text." However, over the weekend she withdrew her resignation, saying Orbán's explanation was sufficient enough.

Deep trouble

The uproar over Orbán's speech hides Hungary's deep economic woes, fuelled by steep inflation, rising energy costs, and the unsustainability of the price-cap policy.

Over the weekend, Orbán's government narrowed eligibility for price-capped petrol and diesel to privately-owned vehicles, farm vehicles and taxis, which would exclude company-owned cars.

A government decree published on Saturday said that it will increase a windfall tax on oil and gas group MOL's profits to 40 percent from 25 percent, Reuters reported.

A series of windfall taxes on banks and certain companies was introduced in May in a bid to help rein in a soaring budget deficit.

The government also announced that it will allow companies to pay their taxes in euros or dollars, to boost the country's reserves as its own currency, the forint, is weakening.

Orbán: West should focus on 'peace' not winning in Ukraine

As well as calling for direct US-Russia peace talks, Viktor Orbán cited the "great replacement" theory, which claims there is a plot to dilute the white populations of the US and European countries through immigration.

Hungary seeks to buy more gas from Russia

Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orbán is facing one of his biggest challenges of his more than a decade-long rule, as the economic pressures keep mounting, and EU funds remain suspended due to rule-of-law concerns.

Opinion

The Orban-Netanyahu mutual support nexus

The parallels between the two leaders can be seen in the campaign to denigrate and delegitimise political opposition and ethnic minorities, attempts to muzzle the independent judiciary, exploitation of religion to promote nationalism, and efforts to co-opt extreme rightwing parties.

Agenda

Spain's EU-language bid and UN summit This WEEK

While the heads of EU institutions are in New York for the UN high level meeting, Spain's EU presidency will try to convince ministers to make Catalan, Basque, and Galician official EU languages.

Latest News

  1. EU trade chief in Beijing warns China of only 'two paths' forward
  2. Why should taxpayers pay for private fishing fleets in third countries?
  3. Women at risk from shoddy EU laws on domestic workers
  4. EU poised to agree on weakened emission rules
  5. China trade tension and migration deal This WEEK
  6. Europe's energy strategy: A tale of competing priorities
  7. Why Greek state workers are protesting new labour law
  8. Gloves off, as Polish ruling party fights for power

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us