Steven N.Prime Minister Viktor Orbán visited Austria on Thursday to hold talks with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer. Orbán was officially invited to discuss the migration issue and the war in Ukraine, but Nehammer indicated he would also ask the Prime Minister about his speech at the Tusványos summer gathering in Băile Tușnad, Romania, on Saturday.
During their joint press conference, Orbán stated that he was in agreement with Austrians on the issues of anti-Semitism and racism. “What the Austrian Chancellor thinks is also what I think,” said the Prime Minister, adding that in politics, “a biologically-based approach is not possible. What is possible is a culturally-based approach.”
“I have a clear and direct position,” continued Orbán. “I define myself as an anti-migration and anti-immigration politician. This isn’t a racial issue, but a cultural issue. We want to maintain our civilization the way it is now.” The Hungarian Premier believes his country differs from Austria in this matter, as he pledged that Hungary would always protect its borders.
The Hungarian Prime Minister also said that sometimes he expresses things in a way that can be misunderstood.
The press conference held with the Austrian chancellor is Orbán’s first public event since his speech in Tusványos, which has provoked negative reactions and prompted a long-time advisor to quit over his comments on not wanting Hungarians to “become a mixed race.”
Dozens of protesters were waiting for the Prime Minister’s arrival on Thursday in front of the Austrian Chancellor’s office building, booing him when he arrived, reported Telex‘s correspondent. [HVG, Magyar Narancs]
In a manner of speaking, Orbàn isn’t really wrong – But the culturally based approach he popularly persues and legitimizes politically, as his strategy for national self preservation, is the highly controversial old culture of racial-ethnic hygiene with religious and demographic regulation.