Migration: Orban criticizes “population exchange” in the EU

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is accustomed to lashing out against the European Union, called on Saturday to fight the “population exchange” organized by this “federalist empire”, while also accusing them of leading an “LGBT+ offensive”.

“The European Union rejects the Christian heritage and organizes population exchange through emigration,” the ultra-conservative leader said at a summer school in Beli Tusnada in Romanian Transylvania, where a large Hungarian community lives.

Viktor Orban, who is a staunch opponent of European asylum reform, has thus referred to a “great replacement programme”.

This conspiracy theory, popularized by the extreme right, argues that the elite will organize the replacement of the European population by non-European immigrants.

The 60-year-old manager wants to be a defender of “illiberal” values ​​in Europe, a term he first mentioned in 2014 at the same stage in Baile Tusnad, where he usually delivers fiery speeches.

Last summer, he caused an uproar by criticizing “mixing of races”.

In permanent conflict with Brussels, he this time attacked “federalist regimes in Europe” which, according to him, “led to an irresponsible empire”. He criticized “an aging boxer”, “a rich but weak union”, which is wrong to separate itself from Russia.

In addition, it sees “the EU’s offensive against LGBT+ family-friendly European countries”. It is one of the recurring themes of Viktor Orban, whose government has in the past few years taken a number of measures deemed anti-gay by non-governmental organisations.

“We have no choice: even though we love Europe, even if it is at home, we have to fight to protect the Christian roots”, insisted the nationalist prime minister in power since 2010.

Under his auspices, Hungary has gradually brought checks and balances into line, regularly drawing criticism from the EU, which has withheld billions of euros in funding over concerns about the rule of law.