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Von Der Leyen Also Criticizes Orbán’s “Mixed Race” Comments

Ursula von der Leyen has also expressed her thoughts on Viktor Orbán’s speech at Tusványos about “mixed races.”

According to the President of the European Commission, discrimination on the basis of race tramples on the values ​​that are enshrined in international treaties, including the UN Charter of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.

As reported by Népszava, the European politician told Slovak news outlet Aktuality.sk that these values were universal and not subject to debate. “We have all undertaken to maintain and protect them,” she said, adding that the European Union is built upon equality, tolerance, fairness, and justice.

In the interview, von der Leyen also spoke about how she was optimistic about the future of democracy and Europe, asserting that “the covid crisis, and now our response to the Russian war of aggression, demonstrated a very important thing: democracies and Europe are performing well.”

While speaking in Băile Tușnad, Romania, during the Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp (informally known as Tusványos) last weekend, Viktor Orbán stated that he didn’t want Hungary to “become a mixed race.”

Since then, the Prime Minister has faced widespead criticism over the comments, such as from the U.S. Embassy in Hungary and in the Romanian media. The speech also prompted a longtime Orbán advisor to tender her resignation.

On Thursday, 67 members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) protested the speech in an online petition. As they wrote, “the idea of human races and their mixing is biologically flawed,” and therefore the academics “find it unacceptable that the Prime Minister associates the future of the Hungarian people with such a scientifically untenable doctrine and dangerous ideology.” [Magyar Hang]

Posted in European Union

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1 Comment

  1. Michael Detreköy

    Hungary’s government controlled national media, through which a large majority of Hugarians get news and information, thrive on negative EU response for maintaining Orbán’s EU exit-strategy.

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