PM Orbán: Europe needs strategy not tactical responses

One, he said, was “the liberal, leftist, progressive, semi-Marxist approach that supports multiculturalism and migration.” This vision, he added, was “anti-family and against nations and nation states, and considers Christian social teachings irrelevant.” He described the opposing vision as one founded on “our inherited Christian culture”. This, he said, was anti-communist, committed to the concept of the family and saw national identity as an asset.

The prime minister said he believed the only way to keep Europe united alongside these differences was for western Europe to accept and respect the differing views of central Europe without trying to force its own views onto the region. The fundamental condition for keeping Europe united is that “central Europeans cannot be told how to live their lives”, he said.

As regards the bloc’s next seven-year budget, Orbán said the

EU budget had been “a success story for the past 30 years”, pointing out that although there had always been disagreements, the member states ultimately always found a solution that worked for everyone.

“The same kind of compromise needs to happen this time, too.”